My Bucket List

ITEM #1 - Christ the Redeember Statue In Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I have found myself lately seeing pictures of beautiful places, or places that would be spiritually nurturing, such as seeing the Holy Land, or hearing about things people have done and saying, "I should do that before I die!". So it made me realize that I should make a bucket list (for those of you who don’t know what this is – it’s a list of things you want to do before you kick the bucket!).

A definition of a bucket list would be:

It doesn’t have to be a list of things that wow other people

They don’t have to be unachievable things

You may have already done some of these things, but have not recorded them - THEY STILL COUNT

They just have to be things you want to do – at least once.

I ran across this amazing picture of one of the new 7 Wonders of the World and I am adding it to my bucket list.

Christ the Redeemer Statue. The 105-foot-tall (38-meter-tall) "Christ the Redeemer" statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, was among the "new seven wonders of the world" announced July 7 following a global poll to decide a new list of human-made marvels. Started in 1927 and finished in 1931. Lighting has been added, and the latest renewal of September 2002 is the addition of a panoramic elevator and motorized staircase to ease the difficulty for elderly persons. ( It used to be a hard rise of 220 steps to get to the top ) The monument of statue of Christ the Redeemer was inaugurated on the day of Our Lady of Aparecida, 12 Oct 1931 by then President of Brazil, Getulio Vargas and cardinal Dom Sebastiao Leme . In October 2006, in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the statue, the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro Cardinal Eusebio Oscar Scheid consecrated a chapel under the statue so that Catholics can hold baptisms and weddings there. The chapel can accommodate 150 people at any one time. The Christ the Redeemer statue is one of the tallest statues of its kind in the world. On 7 July 2007, the Christ the Redeemer statue received a further recognition when it was named as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World by the Swiss-based organisation, The New Open World Corporation. The statue of Christ if 125 tall and is located at the peak of the 2,330 feet Corcovado mountain.

Top 10 Christ the Redeemer Statue Facts

1. Cristo Redentor is an official name for this gigantic statue that reaches 32 meters into the sky and sits on the top of the Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park of Brazil.

2. Christ the Redeemer statue was built exclusively on the money donated by the Catholic community of Brazil.

3. Christ holding open arms was one out of 3 initial architectural drafts options for the statue. The other proposals included Christ holding a globe and a cross.

4. The official draft for the statue was designed by engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and sculpted by Paul Landowski, a French sculptor. The stones were brought to the Corcovado mountain from Sweden.

5. The statue was officially presented to the public by the Brazilian president Getulio Vargas in 1932.

6. October of 2006 became a 75th anniversary year of the Christ the Redeemer statue. Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro Cardinal Eusebio Oscar Scheid declared a small chapel at the foot of the statue to become a holly place to hold baptisms and religious weddings.

7. Christ the Redeemer Statue is the tallest religious statue in the world with total height reaching 40.44 meters including its foundation.

8. The statue was included in the New Seven Wonders of the World list in 2007.

9. In order to reach the statue you need to climb 220 steps, however a flight of escalators was built recently to allow its older or weaker visitors to be able to get to the viewing area. 10. The best time to visit Christ the Redeemer Statue is evening or nighttime when you can additionally appreciate the stunning lights of Rio. Easter and Christmas Eves are the busiest times to visit the statue.