The Christ the Protector statue is being built in Encantado, a small town in Brazil’s southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul, by a local organization called Friends of Christ Association (AACristo).
Made of steel and concrete, it will be 43 meters (141 feet) high – 16 feet longer than Rio’s Christ the Redeemer, according to AACristo.
The statue is 41 feet tall.
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The organization said the statue will be the third tallest statue of Jesus in the world, after a 249-foot statue currently under construction in Mexico and a 172-foot monument in Poland.
The statue is the work of sculptor Genésio Gomes Moura and his son Markus Moura. The head and arms were installed on April 6, and construction, which began in July 2019, should be completed by the end of this year, AACristo said.
It is 4 meters higher than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
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It will cost about $ 353,000 in total, and AACristo is asking for donations to complete the project.
An elevator installed in the statue takes tourists to a vantage point at the height of Christ’s heart.
“It will be a glass opening from which people can film and photograph the valley,” said head project supervisor Artur Lopes de Souza on the AACristo website.
The aim is to boost tourism in the area, which is close to Brazil’s border with Uruguay and Argentina.
The Christ the Redeemer statue has looked down on the city of Rio de Janeiro for nearly 90 years and is one of Brazil’s most famous tourist attractions.