Actually the idea of exchanging the Statue of Liberty and the Statue of Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado originated in the Roosevelt administration as part of the "Good Neighbor" policy advanced by the FDR administration in the late 30s. The main issue was to conteract growing German influence in South America, which had reached alarming levels -- at least in the minds of the US State Department. The straw that broke the camels back was the wild success enjoyed by the Germain airships from Europe to South America. By the late 1930s, the Graf Zeppelin had made hundreds of trips to Rio de Janeiro and beyond. The sheer size of the ship and the overpowering image of the Zeppelin with huge swastikas floating above the city was a challenge not to be ignored. Initially the American government encouraged Panam Airlines to set up routes to South America, flying the famous Clipper seaplanes. Still, the Roosevelt administration felt that this was not quite enough and an even stronger measure was needed. That is when the idea of exchanging the two statues was proposed by the undersecretary of state, Reddick Lefiber. The initial concept was to use mock-up figures covering the two statues, rather than actually moving them. However, for technical reasons relating to the physical characteristics and dimensions of the statues, and because it was determined that the cost for the removal, transportation and installation at the exchange site, and return and re-assembling at the home site was about the same as taking down the originals and building replicates of the other statue at each local -- without the symbolic value of the original statues. However, the breakout World War II caused all plans to be shelved for two decades. In the early 1960s, the Kennedy administration, seeking to conteract another menance -- growing communist ideological initiatives (especially after Cuba's takeover by Castro) -- pulled the old plans off the shelf for consideration. State Department officials felt that "loaning" the statue of liberty to Brazil (on a short temporary basis) would demonstrate to the rest of Latin America the United State's dedication to the ideals of freedom, as compared to the repressive Cuban dictatorial regime. It would also show that America had full confidence in itself and in the left-leaning Joao Goulart government of Brazil, to guard and uphold these same principles.
The statue of Liberty in Rio In June of 1963, acording to US government FOIA documents (Freedom of Information Act), under a cloak of secrecy, operation "Colossus" began, directed by the State Department's Director of Interamerican Cultural Affairs (ICA), Dr. Ema Pihada. Few people took notice when "emergency" repairs for "structural reinforcement" are announced and the Statue of Liberty was hidden behind scaffolding and elevated platforms. No connection was made to the fact that three weeks later the Corcovado statue was also shut down for "temporary repairs" because of "cracks" and to apply a resin to resist carbon dioxide and humitity diffusion that were said to be causing a deterioration of the concrete infrastructure and the exterior tiles. As with Lady Liberty, the Christ statue effectively disappeared from view under the protective screens raised around it. The dismantaling of the Rio statue was a relatively simple process as compared to the NYC object: 83 block pieces weighing an average of 15 tons, none bigger than 10 feet, as compared to 214 sections with over 3,000 primary plates, bars and beams securing the copper exterior to the steel frame of the NYC statue, not counting rivets and bolts. Nevertheless, there were no great technical problems and the disassembly was completed in 60 days.
By August both statues were at sea, Lady Liberty (in pieces) heading south in USS Hendersen, a USN naval transport, and the Corcovado travelling north in a Lyold Brasileiro vessel. According to one of the senior engineers working on the project, there was only one big issue in re-erecting the statues, one that was somewhat embarrassing. Although the two statues are similar in size, the American lady was a little too ... how can we say this politely ... she was overly corpulent, or in simple English: Lady Liberty was too fat! Because of a somewhat excessive girth she nearly did not fit on the Corcovado pedestal. Even so, on November 15, 1963 (a holiday in Brazil) with great fanfare the two statues were unveiled to the world -- to an astonished media and a very critical public. Immediately the unexpected uproar caused consteration among officials involved in the exchange. Elected officials in both countries were dismayed, newspaper editors screemed their indignation and legal challenges were filed at all levels. A nice gesture had turned into a first-class, unmitigated fiasco. However, just when things began to boil another historic event saved the day (at least for those responsible for the exchange). Exactly one week after the inauguration festivals, the world's attention turned to John F. Kennedy and events in Dallas on November 22, 1963. Even before the slain president was laid to rest at Arlington, officials in the US and Brazil were quietly removing the statues from their temporary berths and shipping them back to their original locations at full speed. Within 90 days, both the Statue of Liberty and Christ the Redeemer were home. Thus ended the saga of little known and mostly forgotten Operation Colossus.
It was at this time, after the statues had been moved back to their original locations, that the Corcovado statue was turned around 180 degrees, facing the other direction, as seen in the two photos - one from 1965 and the other from 1961. Notice that in one the statue has its back to Sugarloaf, while in the other it is facing it and Guanabara Bay. According to Riotur officials, this was intended in recognition of and as a tribute to the new areas in the Southern and Northern areas of the city (Tijuca, Vila, Andarai, Madureira, etc...), that either did not exist when the statue was built or were just rural communities. In fact, in early 1930, Copacabana was a lazy community of a few hundred buildings and dirt streets.
Giant statues,
I remember having several conversations about the relative sizes of the Statue of Liberty and the Corcovado. Anyway, giant statues are not only impressive because of their size, but also as engineering structures. I put together a picture to show the relative sizes of large statues (excluding pedastals) around the world, both ancient and moderm. Click on the image to the left to see it.
Only the three first statues in the picture really qualify for comparison: they still exist and are free-standing objects. The other figures are included just for fun and because they are well known. The Russian statue of the Motherland, celebrating the heroic victory at Stalingrad is the largest statue of all (52 meters to the tip of sword and about 35 from feet to top of head). The Statue of Liberty is next (46 meters to the top of tourch, 33.8 meters feet to crown) and the Corcovado measures exactly 30 meters in heighth. All three are close: 35, 33 and 30. Only the Liberty statue can be entered and climbed by the public (in spite of Islamic terrorists); the Corcovado statue is hollow and there is a passage up to the shoulder, but this is for maintenance only.
The other figures in the picture are the Colossus of Rhodes (based on a Salvador Dali picture), one of the ancient Wonders of the World, that was probably about 24 meters tall at the most. The head of the Sphinx rises to 18 meters above ground level, which is also the approximate size of George Washington's face (only) on Mount Rushmore. The largest statue of all was the Bamiyan Buddha, at a little over 52 meters from feet to head, carved in rock and criminally destroyed by the Taliban Islamists in 2001 (after they got tired of beheading women in football stadiums, I guess). For the record, Russia has a second giant statue, the Rodina Mat in Kiev (well, Ukrania now) at 45 meters from feet to top of sword. I have also added figures for the David statue in Florence and Old Abe Lincoln from his monument.
In the 10+ years I lived in Rio I probably went up the moutain at least once a year. As every carioca knows, when someone comes in from out of town, you have to take them to the usual places, including Corcovado. The panorama from the top is spetacular -- I don't think any other city on earth has anything as visually impressive as the view from the Corcovado peak. Oh yes, by the way, this mountain is the highest peak of any directly on the Atlantic Ocean, in all of North and South America, as well as Europe and Africa. Enjoy.
Just as the Statue of Liberty is a symbol, so is the Corcovado. The difference is that the New York statue has not only a local significance, but also a place in the national American conscience. The Christ statue, on the other hand, is essentially an icon of Rio de Janeiro. It has little impact outside of the city of Rio. Therefore it is typically associated with the joys and sorrows that effect the people of Rio de Janeiro. This is most evident in humor and in drawings, where the Christ statue is used to convey the feelings of the cariocas. Every caricature based on the statue of Christ is a social critique of life in Rio. Here are some of the graphics I have come across over the last few years (and my apologies to the artists if the are not identified)...
I'm out of here
I can't take it anymore
Kidnapped, held for ransom 
Armoured....
Suffering 
Celebrating a World Cup victory
Black-outs happen
"To hell with you all"
About polution...
Sadness - Flamengo team loses...
The new passion: spare me these bullets.
Disarm ye one another...
Lula's Brazil...
A tourist's opinion.
In a pool of blood...
as two bullets...
The Corcovado peak has been a public attraction since 1884 when Emperor Dom Pedro II had the railway built to the peak. The view from the 2000+ foot peak (710 meters) is simply out of this world. There is no other place like it on earth. If you go, don't go on a cloudy day. A few times I've found myself at the Corcovado, looking at nothing, in the middle of a big cloud. When inaugurated in 1931 it was illuminated from Rome using a signal sent by the great Marconi, inventor of the radio. The original project had Christ holding a cross, but this was abandoned in favor of the open arms position, the dimensions of which were based on Leonardo da Vinci's famous study of the human body.
As a final note, while comparing statues and calculating the absolute and relative sizes of the three main statues, I came up with the fact that Lady Liberty is much wider (in proportion) than the Motherland or Corcovado statues. If she were 5 feet 5 inches tall, her measurements would be 41-36-42, give or take an inch, wearing a dress size 14 plus (36EE), and at average human mass/density figures, Liberty would weigh about 175 pounds as a human. Of course the flowing robes make this very speculative. On the other hand, she doesn't go anywhere and never gets any exercise. Whatever. There is also another link (kind of). On the Statue of Liberty you will find the famous "I lift my light beside the golden shore" poem, written by Emma Lazarus, a Portuguese Jewish immigrant (and ardent Zionist). The main builder of the Corcovado was Heitor Levy, a Converso -- a Christian Jew. It is said that he enclosed a "time-capsule" bottle at the heart of statue with the history of his family.
And there is another shared characteristic: both the Statue of Liberty and the Christ statues were "born" in France. In fact, this put the Corcovado statue in the news again in early 2005. It seems that the family of Paul Landowski, the statue's Polish-French sculptor, wants royalties from the sale of any goods using the image of the statue. Not likely! The Roman Catholic Church owns the small area where the statue stands and says it has papers giving it full rights to the statue and its image.
The Assocoiated Press release about the controversy also adds this information: "The 125-foot-tall statue, which weighs more than 1,000 tons, was built between 1926 and 1931. Landowski made the pieces in France and shipped them to Brazil, where a cog railway carried them to the top of 2,343-foot Corcovado Mountain". In my opinion the Christ statue will be knee-deep in snow before the Landowski family gets any money from cartoonists, merchants or tourists.
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Corcovado Statue Total width of arms extended: 29 m Feet to top of head: 30 m Heighth of Pedastal:8 m Total heighth, base to top:38 m Length of arms: Waist: Width of head (ear to ear) Lenght of head (chin to top) Length of nose: Weight of statue: 1,145 toneladas Inauguration: oct 12, 1931 Construction type: Stone base, reinforced concrete Other info: Designed by Hector da Silva Costa, with Paul Landowsky, built by Heitor Levy, on Corcovado peak, 710 meters above sea-level. |
Statue of Liberty Total heighth, feet to torch: 151 ft/46m Feet to top of head: 111 Heighth of Pedastal:154 ft/47m Total heighth, base to top: 305 ft/93m Length of arms: 42ft Length of hand: 16 ft Waist: 35ft wide Width of head (ear to ear) 10ft Lenght of head (chin to top) 17ft Length of nose: 4 ft Weight of statue: 450,000 piounds (225 tons) Inauguration: Oct 28. 1886 Construction type: Stone base, iron structure covered by copper Other info: Designed and built in France, by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, as a gift from the people of France to the US. |
Here is another little known fact... In the 1920's the the idea of building a giant statue was being tossed about between Church and Government officials, on one hand, and groups of prominent citizens, on the other. Two things were in doubt: what kind of monument was to be built and where to put it. One thing was sure, however: Rio was going to have a monument -- and it would be grand! When I lived in Rio in the 1980s I had heard that the Christ statue was to be built on the Aterro landfill, near the Calabouço (now Santos Dumont airport). I never thought about it again until one day I come across a 1925 map of Monumental Rio de Janeiro, which can be seen by clicking on the icon at the left! It is a good map, from right after they removed historic Castle Hill (morro do Castelo). The most interesting aspect of the map (seen at the bottom left) are the words: Lugar destinado ao monumento oferecido pela America do Norte (place for the monument to be given by North America) . So there was a proposed monument -- to be donated by the United States (or MExico?) -- that was to be built at the edge of the Castelo landfill.
Cristo Redentor on Flamego Landfill? Was this to be a statue a la liberty that was to stand at the entrance of the city? Was it to be a different statue, not of the Christ? Or why not Iracema, the Indian Princess? It doesn't add up and I can't imagine the Christ statue down on the Bay. Anyway, the damn lyin' Imperialist Yankee gringos didn't donate the darn monument as promised.
Well, that's it for this page. Yes, there was a project to put some kind of Monument down on the edge of Guanabara Bay. No, the two statues were never exchanged. It was a joke on a slow day (remember Emma Pihada!). I have had a couple of letters asking about it, and people have pointed out to me that the World Trade Center towers were built after 1963. Everything else is pretty much as it is. 
