SUNRISE IN COPACABANA

5:47 a.m.

5:50 a.m.

5:54 a.m.

5:55 a.m.

5:58 a.m.

6:05 a.m.

6:09 a.m.

6:17 a.m. - Again light has conquered darkness

COW PARADE RIO 2011

The nice cows are back on what is "the largest and most successful public art event in the world." By the way, the cows have already been here in 2007, as you can see by clicking on the Cow Parade label below. According to the site of the Cow Parade, "the cow is a universally beloved animal. The cow represents different things to different people around the world:  she's sacred, she's historical, she connects us to our past. But the common feeling is one of affection. There is something magical about the cow that transcends throughout the world. She simply makes everyone smile." Even when we eat a good barbecue, I would add.

CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE

The monument of Christ the Redeemer, with wide-open arms to bless the city, was inaugurated on October 12, 1931 by President Getúlio Vargas and Cardinal Sebastião Leme.

Made of reinforced concrete and coated with small triangular pieces of soapstone, all its parts were transported to the top by the Corcovado Train. The structure atop the Corcovado Hill stands over 700 meters high and measures the equivalent of a 13-storey building. It was concluded amidst huge difficulties, among them stormy weather and other natural phenomena like winds of great velocity.

To design and monitor the work, the Church hired engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, who utilized the services of artist Carlos Oswald. The Franco-Polish artist Paul Landowski made the statue’s head, and sculptor Margarida Lopes gave the statue the hands, using her own hands as the model. Careful follow-up by the engineer Heitor Levy ensured that the work was concluded without any accident.

Christ Statue seen from Santa Teresa

Christ Statue seen from Urca

Christ Statue seen from the heliport on Dona Marta Belvedere

The huge challenge facing the project team was to give the image the gentleness and serenity of the Creator, whose facial expression would have to transmit majesty and purity despite its immense stature. The project took 10 years to be completed. Despite the risks, not a single accident was recorded during the work.

Constructed mainly from donations from parishioners of Rio de Janeiro, it is one of the most audacious works of Brazilian engineering.

During his trip to Brazil in 1980, Pope John Paul, II visited the Christ the Redeemer Monument and took a ride on the Corcovado Train. From the hilltop, His Holiness blessed the city and the nation. 

Christ Statue seen from Rua Real Grandeza in Botafogo

Christ Statue seen from Rua Pires de Almeida in Laranjeiras 

Christ Statue seen from Rua Barão de Guaratiba on Glória Hillock

Christ Statue seen from a building in Copacabana

Christ Statue seen from Paineiras at sunset

Christ Statue seen from the parking lot on Shopping Leblon

Christ Statue seen from Urca

Christ Statue seen from works in Botafogo

Christ Statue seen from Pasmado Belvedere

Christ Statue seen from São João Batista Cemetery

Christ Statue seen from Livramento Hill

Christ Statue seen from the snack bar on Corcovado Hill

Photos by the blog's editor. Click on the label Corcovado below to see other texts/photos from the Christ Statue. If you are coming to Rio and need a guide for walking tours, please contact the blog's editor (ivokory@gmail.com).

SURPRISING RIO

AÇUDE MUSEUM

This "dog" guards the former house of Raymundo Ottoni de Castro Maya, now the Açude Museum, in Alto da Boa Vista. Castro Maya was an industrialist, a fosterer of the arts and an art collector. Although the museum is closed for renovations, you can visit its gardens with beautiful Portuguese  tiles and porcelains, as well as artistic installations.

SANTA TERESA TRAM

Everybody likes the "bondinho" (tram) of Santa Teresa and now that it appeared on the animation film Rio it's even more popular. When I was a child the "bondes" (trams) where a common form of transport in Rio, but now the only one remaining is Santa Teresa's. Unfortunately, after a serious accident last July, the tram system is beeing refurbished and will return to operation only on the second semester of 2012.

RIO'S BERLIN WALL

Although many shantytowns are located next to the city's ordinary neighbourhoods, during many decades an invisible "Berlin Wall" divided the "favelas" (the shantytowns on the hillsides) from the "asfalto" (literally, "asphalt", the city beneath). Dominated by drug traffickers, the favelas where a forbidden territory for the outside population. But with the "pacification" (occupation by permanent police forces) the favelas are being reintegrated to the city as a whole. The photo above shows the Favela Pavão-Pavãozinho, in Copacabana.

SURVIVING HOUSES IN COPACABANA

Although high buildings dominate Copacabana's landscape, you can still find some old surviving houses here and there. This one is at Barata Ribeiro Street, between Bolivar and Barão de Ipanema streets. For more houses in Copacabana click here.

RAINY RIO DE JANEIRO

I guess all the photos you've seen from Copacabana Beach were taken on sunny days! But some days it rains a lot! This photo was taken on a Sunday last March at Copacabana Beach. Even with overcast weather, some people came to the beach. Suddenly it began to rain. Notice the Sugarloaf shrouded in clouds behind.

MARACANÃ OR COLYSEUM?

Until the end of 2012, no games are being played in Maracanã Stadium. This legendary stadium where Pelé shoot his 100th goal is being refurbished for the Brazilian World Cup in 2014. But tourists can still visit it. I took this photo few weeks ago. Don't you think it looks a bit like Colyseum?

CHRIST SEEN FROM THE CEMETERY

Also from São João Batista cemetery you can see the statue of Christ, the Redeemer. This is a cemetery from the mid-19th century with very beautiful funerary art and where many Brazilian celebrities are interred. But the Brazilians, with their hedonistic way of life, don't have the habit of visiting cemeteries, except on the 1st November, The Day of the Dead (Finados), when our cemeteries become full of life!


FOR MORE PHOTOS OF CHRIST THE REDEEMER STATUE SEEN FROM DIFFERENT POINTS OF RIO PLEASE CLICK THE LABEL CORCOVADO BELOW.

FOGGY RIO

If London had beaches like Rio, I guess sometimes they would look like this: foggy! This photo wasn't taken on a rainy day; on the contrary, the beach was full. It was taken on a Sunday some weeks ago when a thick fog suddenly descended on Copacabana Beach.

GRAFFITI IN RIO

Omnipresent in the streets of the great cities, graphite is an art that grew alongside the Art History canonized in museums and cultural centers. The recognition of its importance for understanding contemporary culture, and its influence in the constitution of a new visual and social language, has been gradually gaining ground on debates on public urban art diversity.

[...]

Differently from the monuments that were born with the vocation for celebration memories or the contemporary works that affirm a new place for art in the urban space, graffiti is an elegy to the transitory, to the multicultural network that makes the city. When we unite these works, we want to say that, be it in spray or bronze, the art in the streets is a sign, it points to the past, affirms the present and warns about the future.

Text by Mariana Varzea, translated into English by Gisele Mendonça do Nascimento, from the book Arte Ambiente. For more graffiti see the Picasa album GRAFITES CARIOCAS - GRAFFITI IN RIO. 

RIO DECORATED FOR THE WORLD CUP

DOUTOR LEAL STREET, ENGENHO DE DENTRO SUBURB

“WHEREVER YOU GO THERE [AFRICA], THEY'RE ALL PLAYING FOOTBALL ALL THE TIME. EVERYWHERE."

CARLOS BILARDO, FORMER LIBYA AND ARGENTINA COACH

“2010 IS ON EVERYONE'S LIPS AND THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO GIVING THE WORLD A WARM AFRICAN WELCOME.”

MOLEFI OLIPHANT, PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN FA

“WHEN WE PLAY, ALL OF IVORY COAST IS HAPPY.”

MIDFIELDER YAYA TOURÉ

"FOOTBALL IS NOT SIMPLY THE MOST POPULAR SPORT IN GHANA. IT'S LIKE A RELIGION.”

OTTO PFISTER, COACH OF GHANA'S U-17 WORLD CUP WINNERS IN 1991

“IT'S THANKS TO FOOTBALL THAT A SMALL COUNTRY COULD BECOME GREAT.”

CAMEROON LEGEND ROGER MILLA

“WE ARE STILL THE TEAM TO BEAT IN AFRICA. EVERY GAME FOR US IS LIKE A FINAL.”

FORMER NIGERIA CAPTAIN JAY-JAY OKOCHA

Texts from the book FOOTBALL 1: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE, written by Martin Cloake, Glenn Dakin, Adam Powley, Aidan Radnedge and Catherine Sauders.

The World's Happiest Cities, by Zack O'Malley Greenburg

Ever since Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers appeared in the 1933 film Flying Down to Rio, the world has been fascinated with Rio de Janeiro. Popular perception of the city is infused with images of starry-eyed youngsters dancing into the dusk, backed by imposing mountains and dark sea.

That view has propelled Rio to the top of our list of the world's happiest cities. Famous for its annual Carnaval festival (starting Feb. 13 next year), the second-largest metropolis in South America finished first among 50 cities in a recent survey conducted by policy advisor Simon Anholt and market researcher GfK Custom Research North America.

"Brazil is associated with all these qualities of good humor and good living and Carnaval," says Anholt. "Carnaval is very important--it's the classic image that people have of Rio, and it's an image of happiness.

Behind the Numbers

The data Anholt provided for our list is part of the 2009 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index, released in June. The research was compiled through online interviews with 10,000 respondents in 20 countries.

Happiness is difficult to quantify, and Anholt acknowledges that his data is less an indicator of where local populations are happiest than a reflection of respondents' thinking about where they could imagine themselves happy.

"This is a survey of perception, not a survey of reality," he says. "People write me all the time and say 'that's not true.' It probably isn't true, but it's what people think. The gap between perception and reality is what interests city governments."

The French historian Fernand Braudel wrote that " Happiness, whether in business or private life, leaves very little trace in history." But a perception of happiness leaves a strong trace on the balance sheets of cities that depend on conventions, tourism and an influx of talent.

Text originally published at Forbes.com. Photos by the blog's editor.