Christ, what a statue

March 10, 2014 1:35 PM

Arms Wide Open. Inside Rio's iconic statue of Cristo Redentor.
posted by gottabefunky (19 comments total)

Thanks for posting this.
posted by infini at 2:00 PM on March 10, 2014

It was Don Draper's idea, right?
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:22 PM on March 10, 2014

Christ, what an access hole.
posted by srboisvert at 2:35 PM on March 10, 2014 [14 favorites]

I see what they did there with the title.

The arms are held out like he's been carrying a load.
posted by LionIndex at 2:38 PM on March 10, 2014

Yeshua, his arms wide.
posted by Awakened at 2:48 PM on March 10, 2014 [6 favorites]

Awesome post! The idea of putting a statue of Christ there was not without controversy, check out this cartoon from that era (by the great J. Carlos) depicting various idols — even a cow and the devil! — on the mountaintop.
posted by Tom-B at 3:07 PM on March 10, 2014 [2 favorites]

Great article. And these fancy scroll effects are growing on me.
posted by General Tonic at 3:20 PM on March 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

When Ms Wimp and I ascended the hill to see it, the top was completely fogged in, with occasional breaks wherein the face or upper torso would appear momentarily, in an eerie display. It was quite moving, actually, to this confirmed apatheist. I didn't notice Cristo Redentor's accesshole, "infelizmente."
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:20 PM on March 10, 2014

Thanks for this.
I see Cristo every time I open my door and over my shoulder as I type this.
I took a photo the night of that storm ( FB Self link ) and the Guardian ran some pics on the repairs.
posted by adamvasco at 4:50 PM on March 10, 2014 [2 favorites]

So, I wasn't raised Christian at all, but I'm inferring "Arms Wide Open" is a bible reference which was later used by Creed, and not a direct reference to that band?
posted by drjimmy11 at 5:00 PM on March 10, 2014

One of the most unique and engaging presentations of information I have seen on the net to date. Not only was the subject matter fascinating, but also the superb photography complimenting the text as you scrolled. Thanks for directing us to this article. I learned so much about this beautiful monument.
posted by smudgedlens at 5:02 PM on March 10, 2014 [1 favorite]

Is it wrong of me to wonder how many times people have snuck inside to have sex inside Jesus?
posted by los pantalones del muerte at 5:56 PM on March 10, 2014

I once caught a fish thiiiis biiig!
posted by brundlefly at 6:06 PM on March 10, 2014 [5 favorites]

Love this. Thanks for posting. Here's a neat chart showing big monuments (which I admit, I'm fascinated by) on Wikipedia.
posted by valkane at 6:10 PM on March 10, 2014

@ brundlefly "....and shared it with lots of people"
posted by GhostRider at 7:10 PM on March 10, 2014 [2 favorites]

I also enjoyed this for the web design. Well done!
posted by TangerineGurl at 6:18 AM on March 11, 2014

When I visited Rio, I took to calling him "the guy who wants hugs," half amusing, half exasperating my Christian native guide.

But apparently I'm not the only one:

According to Marcio Roiter, president of Brazil's Art Deco Institute, Christ the Redeemer has multiple meanings - "for each person a different meaning".

As he sees it, it's not explicitly religious. "It's more like somebody giving you a hug - welcoming you."
posted by seyirci at 9:09 AM on March 11, 2014

So, I wasn't raised Christian at all, but I'm inferring "Arms Wide Open" is a bible reference which was later used by Creed, and not a direct reference to that band?

I don't believe it's a direct biblical reference. The Bible Gateway only lets you search a handful of translations at once, but it didn't find the phrase in the KJV, NIV, RSV, or NASB. And a search of "arms" in the KJV doesn't seem to come back with anything that looks remotely like "arms wide open."

But in any case, "arms wide open" is hardly original to Creed; Google Books finds uses of the phrase as early as 1702.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:14 AM on March 11, 2014

There's a sort of parody of this in World of Warcraft -- a goblin version, out in the water south of the pirate town Booty Bay. During the big Cataclysm event, it was broken during the earthquakes, and revealed to be full of pirate treasure.

I'm a little disappointed to see that the real one isn't also full of pirate treasure.
posted by rifflesby at 5:24 PM on March 11, 2014