The Second Coming
Last weekend a few friends and I went up to see Cristo Redentor (Rio’s famous Christ the Redeemer statue). Although I see it every day, I had only been up once before – a few weeks after I arrived in Rio. That first time it had been a clear, bright, sunny day and we’d gone up around lunchtime. This time, more by luck than by design, we went up a little after sunset.
If we hadn’t spent so long boozing in the bar down in Laranjeiras then we would have been and gone before the moon started getting involved.
Wow! I really recommend it. Going up during the day is great for getting a really good look at everything, but if you’ve already done that then try going up in the early evening – it’s a very different experience.
The views of the city are stunning and the statue itself has the added element of lighting. For most of the time the statue was lit with a blue/white light, but occasionally they’d flash up something different (for about 3 seconds Jesus was dressed in a lovely rainbow robe that might have suggested certain sympathies at odds with the Catholic Church – unfortunately I didn’t manage to catch that on camera). However, I did manage to get some nice shots so I thought you might like to see a few.
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| Botafogo at night – the dark area on the right is the huge cemetery (Cemitério São João Batista) near the tunnel that leads to Copacabana. |
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| I had never tried one of these shots before. I can’t even remember the proper name now, but you zoom out while the shutter is open (hmmm, I just looked it up and apparently it’s called the Zoom Effect – how imaginative). Looks suitably dramatic for JC I thought. |
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| I snapped this one as an afterthought just as we were leaving and I think it’s my favourite of the lot. It really is a great statue and it’s well worth getting up close to have a proper look from all angles. |
Wow, great pictures.
Seeing Botafogo from that high up at night looks so awesome, so crowded but so small from all the way up there.
Can't wait to get there for myself.
Abracos,
Alex
Thanks Alex! Yeah it was very cool – what you lose by not seeing Pão de Açucar etc, you gain by getting this totally different look at the streets and the neighbourhoods. Are you planning on a visit soon?
I think the last one provides more information as to the texture of the statue. I guess there is nothing like an incision on a surface to expose such details, via light and resulting shadows in this case.
I look at the first one and think it could be what intergalatic traffic would use for road signs. Wouldn't that be cool if you were guiding your spaceship and were told to turn left by such a hand? Maybe a place to park on the hand as well and a hot dog stand just for a bite to eat and a stretch, plus chit chat with the vendor.
Yup, it really is an amazing piece of work. I think it really everything that can be asked of such a high profile statue – it looks great from every angle, it changes according to all kinds of factors (weather, lighting, location, etc) and it says a lot of things to a lot of people. Well done Heitor da Silva Costa (who designed it) and Paul Landowski (who sculpted it) – thanks Wikipedia.