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The most famous of all images of Rio de Janeiro is that of the vast statue of Christ the Redeemer gazing across the bay from the Corcovado (hunchback) hill, arms outstretched in welcome, or as if preparing for a dive into the waters below. The statue (daily 8.30am-6.30pm), 30m high and weighing over 1000 metric tons, was first planned to be completed in 1922 as part of Brazil's centenary independence celebrations. In fact, it wasn't finished until 1931. The French sculptor Paul Landowski was responsible for the head and hands, and the rest was erected by the engineers Heitor Silva Costa and Pedro Viana. In clear weather, fear no anticlimax: climbing to the statue is a stunning experience by day, and nothing short of miraculous at night. In daylight the whole of Rio and Guanabara Bay is laid out before you; after dark the floodlit statue can be seen from everywhere in the Zona Sul, seemingly suspended in the darkness that surrounds it, and often shrouded in eerie cloud. Up on the platform at the base of the statue the effect of the clouds, driven by warm air currents, and the thousands of tiny winged insects clustering round the spotlights, help give the impression that the statue is careering through space out into the blackness that lies beyond the arc of the lights - dramatic, and not a little hypnotic. The view from the statue of Christ the Redeemer can be very helpful for orientation if you've just arrived in Rio. On a clear day, you can see as far as the outlying districts of the Zona Norte, while on the south side of the viewing platform you're directly over the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, with Ipanema on the left, Leblon on the right; on the near side of the lake, Rua Sao Clemente is clearly visible, curving its way through Botafogo, towards the Jardim Botanico and the racecourse; and on your left, the small bairro of Lagoa can be seen tucked in beneath the Morro dos Cabritos, on the other side of which is Copacabana. It is, of course, a thoroughly exploited tourist experience. There are the usual facilities for eating, drinking and buying souvenirs. On the walk up to the statue, someone will probably take your photograph clandestinely and, when you descend, a saucer, complete with your photograph superimposed on it, will be thrust before you - if you don't want the saucer, no one is going to twist your arm. Back down at the bottom, if you have the time and inclination, a five-minute walk uphill from the cog-train station on Rua Cosme Velho will take you to the Museu Internacional de Arte Naif (Tues-Fri 10am-6pm, Sat & Sun noon-6pm; $3), which boasts the world's largest naive art collection. Although most of the work displayed is by Brazilian artists, the museum features paintings from throughout the world, with work from Haiti, the former Yugoslavia, France and Italy especially well presented. Across the road, a short distance further uphill, you'll reach the Largo do Boticario , named after the nineteenth-century apothecary to the royal family, Joaquim Luiz da Silva Santo, who lived here. A picturesque little corner of Rio, the mid-nineteenth-century houses here are built in the colonial style, some with fronts decorated with azulejos, while round about are pebbled streets and a fountain in a small courtyard.
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