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The head and outstretched arms of the statue were last added on the construction site in Encantado - everything should be ready by the end of 2021
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SILVIO AVILA / AFP
A new monumental statue of Christ, which is currently being built in the south of Brazil, is to be even bigger than the famous "Christ the Redeemer" ("Christ the Redeemer") in Rio de Janeiro.
The statue, which has been under construction in Encantado since 2019 and is to be called "Christ the Protector", is said to be 43 meters high - including the base, according to the builders.
The Christ statue in Rio de Janeiro is 38 meters high.
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At the construction site in Encantado in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, the head and outstretched arms of the statue were added this week.
The span of the arms is 36 meters.
An internal elevator and a viewing platform are also planned.
At the statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro, which will be 90 years old in October, the arms span is 28 meters.
Statue should be ready by the end of the year
The statue in Encantado, a city of 22,000 inhabitants 145 kilometers northwest of the regional capital Porto Alegre, is due to be finished by the end of the year, according to the Association of Friends of Christ responsible for the construction.
"It's a day of friends and devotion," said Gilson Conzatti, councilor whose father Adroaldo Conzatti was mayor of Encantado and who came up with the idea for the statue.
However, he died in March of the consequences of a corona infection.
The two sculptors Genesio and Markus Moura are also father and son.
The construction costs of probably two million reals (almost 300,000 euros) will be covered exclusively by donations.
ngo / afp