Originally published 2020-03-21.
On the evening of Wednesday 18 March 2020, Rio de Janeiro turned its most famous landmark into a message of solidarity. The Christ the Redeemer statue on Corcovado mountain was lit with the flags of countries affected by the new coronavirus, followed by the words "pray together" in many languages. Before the lights went on, the Archbishop of Rio, Cardinal Orani João Tempesta, led a short religious ceremony at the foot of the statue for those affected by the disease.
The statue itself had been closed to visitors as Rio began restricting gatherings and tourist sites, so the display was seen mostly from the city below and through photos and video shared around the world.
Silvia Izquierdo/AP
A patchwork of flags
The first photograph shows the projection at its most striking: the statue's robe and outstretched arms covered in a dense grid of national flags. Recognisable among them are the flags of the United States, South Korea and North Macedonia, along with what appear to be dozens of others from Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas.
The choice was symbolic. In mid-March 2020 the virus had already been reported in well over 150 countries, so showing every flag clearly on a single statue would have been impossible. The flags were a gesture of shared grief and hope, not a precise map of where infections had been confirmed.
"Pray together" in many languages
A second part of the display replaced the flags with text. The photograph below shows the statue wrapped in hashtags meaning "let us pray together" in several languages: #praytogether in English, #rezemosjuntos in Portuguese, #oremosjuntos in Spanish, #prionsensemble in French, #preghiamoinsieme in Italian and #betenwirgemeinsam in German, alongside versions in Chinese and Japanese.
Choosing several languages also mirrored the city's own character. Rio receives visitors from all over the world, and the statue is one of the most photographed monuments on Earth, so a message written only in Portuguese would have reached far fewer people.
Using hashtags rather than plain phrases was a deliberate invitation to people around the world to share their own prayers and messages online, at a time when many were confined to their homes.
Wagner Meier/Getty Images
Where the world stood in March 2020
The World Health Organization had declared Covid-19 a pandemic on 11 March 2020, only a week before the lighting. Brazil had confirmed its first case in São Paulo in late February, and by the third week of March cases were rising quickly in Rio and São Paulo, prompting state and city authorities to close schools, restrict events and shut many tourist attractions.
Worldwide, around 300,000 cases and more than 10,000 deaths had been reported by about 21 March, figures that would soon be dwarfed. Across Europe, people were applauding health workers from their balconies, and landmarks from many countries were being lit in national colours or messages of support. Rio's gesture was one of the most widely shared.
News organisations broadcast the scene within hours. CBS News and Reuters both posted footage of the illuminated statue on 19 March:
WATCH: Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil lights up in honor of all countries struck by the coronavirus. https://t.co/tgkzsn5FNY pic.twitter.com/YJ7eIUVuWE
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 19, 2020
Brazil's Christ the Redeemer statue was illuminated with images of continents and flags in a show of solidarity with countries grappling with the coronavirus pandemic. More on our live blog: https://t.co/3uc2RSEjBO pic.twitter.com/xAnVy5kt9x
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 19, 2020
The statue behind the light show
Christ the Redeemer, or Cristo Redentor, was built between 1922 and 1931 and dedicated on 12 October 1931. Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa led the project and co-designed it with artist Carlos Oswald; French sculptor Paul Landowski created the figure, and Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida sculpted the face. French engineer Albert Caquot also worked on the structure.
The statue is made of reinforced concrete covered in a mosaic of soapstone tiles. It stands 30 metres (98 feet) tall, or 38 metres including its pedestal, and its arms stretch 28 metres across. It sits on the summit of Corcovado, about 700 metres above the city, and in 2007 it was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
A long history of lighting
Light has been part of the monument's story from the beginning. At the 1931 inauguration, the floodlights were supposed to be switched on remotely from Rome by radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi, but bad weather meant they were turned on locally instead. In 2010, after a restoration, the statue glowed green and yellow to support Brazil's team at the football World Cup. Since then it has regularly carried colours and images for causes, anniversaries and moments of mourning, which made it a natural canvas for a pandemic message.
What the gesture did and did not do
A light show cannot treat a disease, and symbolic acts are no substitute for testing, protective equipment and clear public-health policy. Brazil went on to suffer one of the world's highest Covid-19 death tolls.
Still, symbols matter in a crisis. For people isolated at home, the sight of a famous statue embracing the flags of the world offered a reminder that the struggle was shared and that cooperation across borders, from vaccine research to medical supplies, would be needed to get through it.
Visiting Christ the Redeemer today
The Covid-era closure was temporary, and the statue has long since welcomed visitors again. Most people reach the summit by the Corcovado rack railway through the Tijuca Forest or by authorised vans, then climb the final stretch by stairs, lift or escalator. Clear mornings usually give the best views over Sugarloaf Mountain, Copacabana and Guanabara Bay; check current opening hours and ticket arrangements before you go, as they can change.
Sources: Christ the Redeemer (Wikipedia); Orani João Tempesta (Wikipedia); CBS News and Reuters posts of 19 March 2020; photographs by Silvia Izquierdo (AP) and Wagner Meier (Getty Images).
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