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Last Updated: Friday, 13 October 2006, 03:12 GMT 04:12 UK
Sanctuary status for Rio landmark
Statue of Christ in Rio
The famous landmark, atop a 710-metre mountain, towers over Rio




Workers began transporting the stone and other building materials in 1922.

The statue was assembled at the top and officially opened on 12 October 1931.

Today the site is visited by more than 300,000 tourists each year, but the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro says it wants to reclaim what it calls the sacred sense of the monument.

So to mark the birthday, the statue was officially declared a Roman Catholic sanctuary, meaning couples will now be able to marry in a small chapel at the foot of the towering structure.

On Thursday hundreds of nuns and priests watched as the site was consecrated at a mass led by Archbishop Eusebio Scheid.

He read out a goodwill message from Pope Benedict XVI describing the Christ statue as a beacon of compassion and fatherly protection.

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