Granite peaks rise straight from the sea at the edge of a city where rainforest, ocean and Portuguese colonial history sit within a few kilometres of each other. Christ the Redeemer watches over the bay from the summit of Corcovado, while Sugarloaf’s bare rock and the vast green cover of the Tijuca Forest complete a setting inscribed by UNESCO for its landscape rather than for any single building.
At a glance
Rio de Janeiro was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2012 under the title Rio de Janeiro: Carioca Landscapes between the Mountain and the Sea. The listing does not cover a single monument but an entire urban landscape, taking in the granite peaks of Sugarloaf and Corcovado, the Tijuca Forest, the city’s beaches and the waters of Guanabara Bay.
Corcovado carries Christ the Redeemer on its summit at 704 metres, with Guanabara Bay to the east and the Tijuca Forest spreading below. Sugarloaf rises separately, 396 metres of bare granite at the mouth of the bay, reached by a cable car that opened in 1912.
Key facts
- Christ the Redeemer: 38 metres tall with arms spanning 28 metres, opened in 1931; designed by the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa and modelled by the French sculptor Paul Landowski.
- Corcovado: 704 metres, reached by the Corcovado rack railway, a 3.8-kilometre line built in 1884 that runs through Atlantic Forest to the summit.
- Sugarloaf (Pão de Açúcar): 396 metres, served by a two-stage cable car via Morro da Urca at 230 metres, opened in 1912.
- Tijuca Forest: 3,953 hectares of Atlantic Forest, replanted from 1861 by foresters working under Dom Pedro II; it contains the Rio Carioca river and the 35-metre Cascatinha de Taunay waterfall.
- Guanabara Bay: 412 square kilometres, the largest bay in Brazil by water volume.
- Sambódromo: the 700-metre concrete parade avenue designed by Oscar Niemeyer, opened in 1984 for the Carnival parades.
History
Rio de Janeiro was founded on 1 March 1565 by the Portuguese commander Estácio de Sá, following a battle against French forces and Tamoio allies fought at the foot of Sugarloaf. The bay itself had been named earlier, in January 1502, when Portuguese explorers mistook it for the mouth of a river.
The city became capital of the Portuguese viceroyalty of Brazil in 1763. In 1808, following Napoleon’s invasion of Portugal, King João VI transferred the entire Portuguese royal court to Rio, making it the seat of the Portuguese Empire until 1821. Rio remained Brazil’s capital until 1960, when the role passed to Brasília.
UNESCO inscribed the city’s landscape, rather than any single monument, in 2012.
What you see
The visit to Corcovado brings together the Christ the Redeemer statue and a wide view that takes in Guanabara Bay, the Atlantic coastline, the Tijuca Forest below and the city’s northern districts. The rack railway climbs through dense forest before reaching the summit platform.
Sugarloaf is approached separately, by the cable car that has run since 1912 in two stages, first to Morro da Urca and then to the summit, where the granite drops away to the bay and the open ocean.
The Tijuca Forest itself is walkable, with the Rio Carioca running through it and the Cascatinha de Taunay waterfall among its features, a planted rather than a primary forest, the result of restoration begun in 1861.
During Carnival, the Sambódromo hosts the samba schools’ parades, each school presenting an allegorical pageant with a large body of performers over a set period before Ash Wednesday.
Practical information
- Booking: visits to Corcovado and the Christ the Redeemer statue commonly require advance booking in peak season; check the official site for current arrangements.
- Weather: the summit views from Corcovado and Sugarloaf are affected by cloud cover, so mornings are generally clearer.
- Carnival dates: the festival falls in the four days before Ash Wednesday and moves each year with the church calendar.
Getting there
Rio de Janeiro is served by its own airports, and the Corcovado rack railway and the Sugarloaf cable car both operate from stations within the city. Current routes and current transport options are best checked through the official visitor channels for each site.
Nearby
- Copacabana and Ipanema — the city’s principal beach districts, at the foot of the same coastal landscape.
- Tijuca Forest — the planted rainforest reaching close to Corcovado, with the Rio Carioca and the Cascatinha de Taunay waterfall inside it.
- Sambódromo — the Niemeyer-designed parade avenue used for the Carnival processions.
Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre
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