Christ The Redeemer Construction

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It has become the symbol of the host city of the 2016 Olympic Games, towering over Rio De Janeiro as athletes from around the world compete below.

But the Christ The Redeemer statue - sitting 700 meters above the city's beaches and Favelas on Corcovado mountain - has a life story worthy of Olympic legend.

Inspired by bolstering Christianity in the wake of Brazil becoming a republic at the end of the 19th century, the 38-metre high statue was still being designed and crafted by a team of artists, engineers and architects from across the world while being built atop the mountain during the 1920s.

The face under construction (left) as well as the giant hands - shown as three times the height of an adult (right).

Brazilian engineer and architect Heitor da Silva Costa (left) won the design competition before building the statue with French engineer Albert Caquot (centre).  Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida (right) helped work on the face.

Brazilian architect Heitor da Silva Costa won the design competition in early 1922, reportedly imagining the statue to face the rising sun. 

'The statue of the divine Saviour shall be the first image to emerge from the obscurity in which the earth is plunged and to receive the salute of the star of the day which, after surrounding it with its radiant luminosity, shall build at sunset around its head a halo fit for the Man-God,' he said.

An initial design involved a statue of Christ carrying a cross in one hand and a globe in his other hand - though this was often wrongly interpreted at the time as a ball.The foundation stone for the statue was laid in 1922.

French-Polish sculptor Paul Landowski shown at work on a hand for the sculpture.

Landowski works next to a miniature of the statue, which would later tower 38 metres when erected on the mountain.

The project being constructed, but already overlooking, the port of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, circa 1930.

Scaffolding can be seen surrounding the statue.

A defining moment in the project came when the design, now utilizing the skills of artist Carlos Oswald, made Christ himself to look like the cross - an iconic symbol that would tower over Rio. 

Da Silva Costa is said to have visited Europe in 1924 to seek help from the leading French engineer with reinforced concrete, Albert Caquot, meeting a range of sculptors along the way.

Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski was chosen. He has been praised as the man behind the design of the figure's head and hands, with the BBC saying he produced the pieces full-sized in clay before shipping them to Brazil to be reproduced in concrete.

Workers had to scale scaffolding during the construction phase of the project during the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Only the face of Jesus Christ can be seen amid the scaffoldings as workers scramble to build the project atop the mountain.

This photo shows the incredible height of the mountain location, allowing the statue to be viewed from multiple vantage points around Rio De Janeiro.

The finishing touches are applied to the statue ahead of its opening to an eager Brazilian public in October 1931.

The statue during the opening on October 12, 1931 after almost a decade of designs and construction.

When the statue was opened on October 12, 1931, the finished statue was 38 meters tall, including the 8-meter pedestal, with arms that stretched 28 meters wide.

The cost was reportedly USD $250,000 - about $3.4million in today's money.

It quickly became a defining image of Rio De Janeiro and Brazil.As it was first imagined, it has also become one of the most memorable images of Christianity on the planet - with even papal visits occurring.

The statue has become one of the Seven New Wonders of The World - alongside far older structures such as The Colosseum in Rome and the Great Wall of China.

The statue surrounded by scaffoldings for a cleaning operation in March 2010.

Workers climb the scaffolding surrounding the Christ the Redeemer statue during the March 2010 cleaning operation.

A common sight in Rio is the statue emerging out of morning fog, before the weather clears and thousands of tourists climb the mountain to get views up and down the city's coastline, including nearby Copacabana Beach to the right.

Lightning strikes next to the statue Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on January 16, 2014.

The lighting strikes around the statue in January 2016 are one of the more memorable ways the statue has been seen.

Still, the work has continued atop Corcovado.

Modern luxuries such as escalators and elevators have been added in recent decades to ease the stair climb for tourists making the pilgrimage to the statue, especially in big numbers during the recent hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2014 and now the Olympics.

On the 75th anniversary of the statue's opening, in 2006, a chapel was consecrated to Our Lady of Aparecida, the patron saint of Brazil.

The statue has also become synonymous with visiting celebrities, from Princess Diana to, more recently, the USA Men's Basketball Team during the games. 

Princess Diana posing for photographers next to the monument of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro in April 1991.

A Super-moon is pictured behind the Christ The Redeemer statue.

The statue on top of Corcovado looking over Botafogo cove, the Pan de Azucar and Sugar Loaf mountain.

Daredevil photographer Thiago Correa reached the top of his career by snapping what has been described as the ultimate selfie from the top of the statue.

Athletes compete in the women's marathon during the Olympics in Rio, where the statue Christ the Redeemer stands in the background.

Tourists enjoy the statue from close up on top of the mountain after travelling to the statue on a railway.

The Rio De Janeiro cityscape today with Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain in the background.