Day 66 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 2)

Saturday, 18 October 2014

To go up to the mountain top we had to purchase the entrance ticket (which our tour guide purchased for us) and take one of the vans up. There was a long line and we had to wait for almost 2 hours before we finally got into a van! And then from the entrance you either take a panoramic elevator up to where the statue is (there was a long line here, too!) or take the 220 stairs up, which is what I did.

Unfortunately it was not a very sunny day today so there was a lot of fog, but whenever the fog cleared, the view of Christ the Redeemer is really a sight to behold. The statue is 30 meters high and the base is 8 meters, so altogether it is 38 meters high. The arms stretch 28 meters, and it weighs about 635 tons. The statue was a gift by the government of Brazil to its people in commemoration of Brazil's 100 years of independence. The idea was conceived in 1921, and the actual construction work began and in 1922, and the statue was completed in 1931. The statue was designed and built by a collaboration of French and Brazilian architects and engineers. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone. There is a small chapel here, in honour of Our Lady of Apparition, the patron saint of Brazil.

To me, Christ looked a bit sad. Of course, in a religious context one could say he is sad because mankind continues to sin even after he sacrificed himself for our sins. But the first thought that came to my mind was that Christ was sad because Brazil lost miserably in the recent World Cup. And yes, I'm probably going to the Hell I don't believe in for thinking that. 

Next, we went to the Sambadrome, which is a parade area where samba schools parade competitively each year during the Rio Carnival. The Sambadrome was designed by the lovely Oscar Niemeyer and built in 1984. It consists of 700 meters stretch of the Marques de Sapucai street, which has been converted into a permanent parade ground with stadium like seats built on either side for spectators. Its capacity is 90,000. The official Carnival parades take place just before the start of Lent. They are held for 4 consecutive nights, during which schools parade one after another from 8 pm until the morning. Each samba school is given 90 minutes to parade from one end of the Sambadrome to the other. On Ash Wednesday, grades are gathered and one school is declared the winner. The Parade of Champions is held the following Saturday featuring the five winning samba schools. 

Outside the Carnival season, part of the Sambadrome is occasionally used as a major concert venue in Rio de Janeiro, and among the artists who have performed here are Nirvana, Janet Jackson, Bon Jovi and the Rolling Stones. 

After this, we went to the Maracana Stadium. It is actually named Estadio Journalista Mario Filho after an important journalist in Brazil, but is more popularly known as the Maracana Stadium due to the place it is situated in, which is known as the Maracana neighbourhood. This was the stadium that was built for the 1950 World Cup when Brazil was host, and in which Brazil unfortunately lost to Uruguay in the finals. At that time, it was the biggest stadium in the world, with a capacity of 200,000, including places to stand. But there was a change in the rules which prohibited standing areas, so with only seating areas, the stadium's capacity is now down to only 75,000. It still remains the largest stadium in South America.