Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro

node · earth

A 30 m concrete and soapstone figure, 38 m including its pedestal, standing on the summit of Corcovado above Rio de Janeiro. It was inaugurated on 12 October 1931, designed by the sculptor Paul Landowski with the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, who worked with the French engineer Albert Caquot on the structure. It is the youngest of the 2007 winners by a wide margin and the only one built in the twentieth century. In form it is the closest modern analogue to the lost Colossus of Rhodes: a colossal divine figure placed where arriving ships would see it first.