Brazil Thanks Medical Workers With Lightning Up Christ the Redeemer

In a touching tribute to healthcare workers around the world fighting the pandemic, Rio de Janeiro’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue was lighted on Easter Sunday with doctors, nurses, and flags of many affected countries; along with words of praise and support to “stay at home” (fique em casa).

Photographs by Buda Mendes/Getty Images

Rio’s archbishop, Dom Orani Tempesta, performed a mass at the base of the statue during the light show, in which he paid tribute to medical workers. This is the second time the monument has been illuminated in response to the pandemic. [source]

Christ the Redeemer is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created by French sculptor Paul Landowski and built by Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida fashioned the face. Constructed between 1922 and 1931, the statue is 30 metres (98 ft) high, excluding its 8-metre (26 ft) pedestal. The arms stretch 28 metres (92 ft) wide.

The statue weighs 635 metric tons (625 long, 700 short tons), and is located at the peak of the 700-metre (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. [source]