"Selfie" on the Head of Christ the Redeemer Monument Becomes Fashionable in Brazil

12/01/2014 - 08h57

"Smile! You are taking a self-portrait on the head of Christ, the Redeemer."

If a sign like this were placed today at the monument in Rio de Janeiro, it wouldn't be totally strange.

From July, when the restoration of the statue was finished, until the end of October, hundreds of people used the scaffold set at the base to climb up the monument and, from high up, take a selfie on its head or arms.

The pictures were authorized by the Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, which is responsible for the monument.

Even a wedding proposal was made from the height. Advertiser Bruno Henrique, 35, decided to surprise his girlfriend, Julia Dannemann, 30. He heard her "yes" 30 meters above the ground, the same height as a 13-floor building.

"Julia is very catholic. I was married, so I can't get married in church again. I decided to propose in a different way to compensate," says Henrique. The moment of the proposal was recorded with a selfie.

Others have wished to climb the statue for at least 23 years. Environmental engineer Thiago Correa, 27, and photographer Bruno Jenz, 23, still remember the day that comedian Renato Aragão kissed the statue's hand in 1991.

Rio's archdiocese says small groups were authorized to climb accompanied by employees as the access to the monument by scaffolds was safe.

"The rector's dream is to have visits to the top and the inside of the monument," said the archdiocese.

For now, that is only a plan. But the success of the selfies suggests that those visits would be widely sought after.

British blogger Lee Thompson, 32, of the travel website "The Flash Pack", who considers himself to be the first to take a selfie at the top of the statue (he published a picture at the end of June), says his image was seen all around the world. "People tell me it's the best selfie ever."

Everyone agrees that the visit is breathtaking. "I have been to Pedra Bonita, to Pedra da Gávea. The top of the Christ the Redeemer is incomparable," says student Thiago Rodrigues, 18.

THE END OF THE PARTY

A little more than a month ago, however, the visits were canceled. The scaffolds will be removed.

The only door to access the inside of the monument, which was inaugurated in 1931, is eight meters above the ground.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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