Rio Christ Statue Is Declared Religious Sanctuary

Rio Christ Statue - Rio de Janeiro's most famous landmark, the statue of Christ the Redeemer, was declared a religious sanctuary that can now host ceremonies such as marriages and baptisms.

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The 75-year-old statue that overlooks Rio from 709 meters above the sea and receives more than 300,000 tourists every year, is "much more than a simple tourist attraction," said Pope Benedict XVI in a message posted on Rio de Janeiro's Archdiocese's Web site.

In February 2008 the statue was struck by lightning, but the solid structure surprisingly was not damaged. One lucky photographer was able to record the incident in a very dramatic photograph showing the lightning connecting with the statue.

The Archdiocese consecrated the site as a Catholic sanctuary because the Church wants to reclaim the monument's original function as a holy site for prayer and pilgrimage.

"It's fundamental that we rescue the spiritual sense of this monument, for its history and for everything it represents," Rio de Janeiro Archbishop Dom Eusebio Oscar Scheid said during mass at the foot of the 38-meter-high statue to celebrate its consecration.

The original idea for a statue overlooking the city came from Brazil's Princess Isabel, daughter of Emperor Dom Pedro the Second, who wanted to build a religious monument to celebrate the end of slavery in 1888.

In subsequent years, city officials tried to decide which of Rio's several mountains and hills should host the statue, Rio de Janeiro's Mayor's Office says on its Web site.

The Corvovado mountain was chosen by popular vote in 1921. In 1922, construction of a small chapel started, and in 1924 a prototype was concluded by Polish naturalized French sculptor Maximilien Paul Landowski.

Construction started in 1926, with a foundation in iron and concrete, covered by soapstone.

The monument, weighing 1,145 tons, was inaugurated on Oct. 12, 1931.

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