The enormous statue known as Christ the Redeemer was erected on a hilltop overlooking Rio de Janiero in 1931. Its 90th anniversary is an occasion for maintenance and restoration, as the statue becomes worn and damaged by weather. How that’s done is a fascinating story. Workers use ropes to rappel around the surface of the statue, but they get up there from the inside!
British writer Donna Bowater was reporting in Brazil when Christ the Redeemer lost the tip of its finger to lightning and had a rare chance to see the statue from inside while covering the story for the BBC.
“It was really surreal,” she says. “I’d been up to the base several times before as a tourist and with visitors, but going inside was a bit unnerving because it is crypt-like, with about a dozen flights of stairs zig-zagging to the top. Each level is numbered and almost at the top, there’s a heart on the inside that matches the heart in the middle of Cristo’s chest on the outside. At the top, the tunnel into the arm is low and only accessible by crawling along it. At two intervals, there are trapdoors where it’s possible to stand.”
Take a look inside, see closeups of the outside with safety manager Alexsandro Brauna, and learn about the statue’s history and future at Atlas Obscura.