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Made of marble, copper, bronze and even earth, some statues and sculptures are symbols of art that have become postcards. We selected the 10 most beautiful and impressive in the world

by Bruno Segadilha | Shutterstock photos and Disclosure/Ministry of Tourism of Uruguay

Christ the Redeemer
Rio de janeiro Brazil

It all started in 1859, when the French priest Pierre-Marie Boss, from the Church of the Colégio Imaculada Conceição, had the idea of building a religious monument at the top of Mount Corcovado, in Rio de Janeiro. The project, considered daring, was shelved for a few years, until, in 1922, the government of then President Epitácio Pessoa decided to materialize it in celebration of the centenary of Brazil's Independence. Created by designer Heitor da Silva Costa, painter Carlos Oswald and sculptor Maximiliam Paul Landowsky, the statue of Christ the Redeemer was inaugurated on October 12, 1931. Its numbers are impressive.
The monument is 38 meters high, the equivalent of a 13-story building, cost around R$9.5 million and was made of soapstone cut into thousands of triangles. They were glued by hand onto fabric and then applied to the statue by pastille artists.

The Thinker
Paris, France

In 1880, Frenchman Auguste Rodin, father of modern sculpture, was invited to create a piece for the Museum of Decorative Art in Paris based on The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri. From this commission came the work A Porta do Inferno, a large portal with 180 bronze figures, including the famous man who rests his chin on one of his fists. The character in question portrayed the Italian poet and, despite being initially named The Poet, the piece became known to visitors who passed through the museum entrance as The Thinker. The sculpture gained other versions made by the artist himself, including the most famous, which is 1.86 meters high and is on display at the Musée Rodin, in Paris. In Brazil, the sculpture can be seen at the Instituto Ricardo Brennand, in Pernambuco, where there is a version that was made using the original mold.

Terracotta Army
Xian Province // China

One of the main relics of history was discovered by chance. In 1974 Chinese farmers were excavating a dry area in Xian province to build wells, when they found stone statues. The figures were part of a collection of more than 8 thousand figures of warriors, another 520 horses and 130 carriages, handcrafted in life size. Each piece was unique and the soldiers carried real bronze weapons. The army is located about a kilometer and a half from the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shihuangdi (260-210 BC), built so that he would have all the power and wealth he enjoyed in life in death. According to historian Sima Qian, whose records are the main source of information about the construction, more than 700,000 people from all corners of the country worked on the works, which took 38 years to complete.

Greetingman
Montevideo // Uruguay

In October 2012, the Buceo neighborhood in Montevideo received what would be the first in a series of sculptures made by South Korea to seal peace and friendship with other countries. The capital of Uruguay was not chosen randomly. The city is an antipode of Korea, an area of the Earth located diametrically opposite. The statue, created by Korean artist Yoo Young-ho, is six meters high and displays a figure curved downwards, showing a reverence typical of Asian people. It is a naked man who represents all men, not a specific type or race, and is painted light blue because, according to the sculptor, this is the color of joy and light. The project cost 200 thousand dollars and was financed with the sale of 800 similar sculptures, but made on a smaller scale.

Pieta
Vatican // Italy

In November 1497, French Cardinal Jean Bilhères de Lagraulas commissioned Michelangelo Buonarroti to create a sculpture of the Pietá for his tomb. Common in sculptures in regions of France, Germany and Central Europe, the Pietà is the theme that refers to the dead Christ, whose body was laid on his mother's lap. To materialize his desire, the religious man provided the immense block of marble that gave rise to the 1.95 meter tall statue. Bilhères died before seeing his commission, which took a year to be sculpted, completed. The monument only went to the chapel of Santa Petronilla, next to the southern arm of the old Saint Peter's Basilica, where the cardinal was buried, a few months later. Twenty years later, the sculpture moved to another part of the temple. It remained in the sacristy for a period and then moved to its current location, to the right of the Basilica, next to the entrance.

Bust of Nefertiti
Berlin, Germany

In 1912, at the time of European expeditions in the Middle East, when the team of German archaeologists led by Ludwig Borchardt found an Egyptian site that became known as Atelier Tutmés. There, they discovered the bust of Nefertiti, one of the most symbolic artifacts of Ancient Egypt. The object was taken to Germany and passed through different institutions, until arriving at the Neues Museum, where it is currently located. Made of limestone, the sculpture is around 3,400 years old and represents the Egyptian queen who was the wife of Pharaoh Akhenaten. Its authorship is not exactly known, but it is believed to be the work of the sculptor Thutmose and to have been produced around 1345 BC. A cultural symbol of the German capital, as well as Ancient Egypt, the statue is the subject of an intense historical discussion between the two countries, since, since the 1920s, Egyptian authorities have been demanding their return.

Statue of Liberty
New York // United States

One of the main symbols of the United States, the statue was a gift given by France to commemorate the alliance between the countries during the Revolutionary War. The 45-meter-high monument represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who holds a torch in her right hand and the United States Declaration of Independence in her left. The famous postcard was built piece by piece over the course of nine years and its parts were exposed in Paris as they were completed, like the head and the torch, which remained for some time in the Jardins du Trocadéro. The work was completed in 1885, when it was sent to New York, and inaugurated on October 28, 1886, on Liberty Island, after months of assembly. Made of copper, it had a different appearance. The green color took 20 years to catch on, in a process called vert-de-gris patina.

Fernando Pessoa
Lisbon, Portugal

One of the most traditional cafes in Lisbon, A Brasileira was opened in 1905, in the Chiado neighborhood, and is part of the city's history. It was there that the poet Fernando Pessoa liked to spend a few hours of his day, savoring the drink, passing time and, often, composing his work. To honor the writer on his centenary, celebrated in 1988, the owners of the place unveiled a bronze statue of him sitting in one of his favorite spots. Author of the work, Portuguese artist Lagoa Henriques said that his inspiration came from chance. He had picked up the book Obras de Fernando Pessoa and opened it at random, coming across a poem whose first verse was “The hand placed on the table”. At that moment he considered that he had just received a message from Pessoa and decided to portray the author sitting, with his arm on the table.

Mom
Ottawa // Canada

Over a career spanning almost seven decades, French artist Louise Bourgeois became famous for her beautiful sculptures, including the imposing Maman, created for the opening of Tate Modern in London in 2000. The enormous spider is part of a series inspired by arachnid that has gained versions in different parts of the world, such as the one in the National Gallery of Canada, in Ottawa. The more than nine meter tall work stands on legs that resemble Gothic arches and functions as a cage and lair to protect the eggs that are attached to its abdomen. The animal, which first appeared in drawings made by the artist in the 1940s and gained prominence in her work during the 1990s, is a tribute by Bourgeois to her mother, who was a weaver. The work, opened in 1999, reveals the ambiguity of maternal love, which, according to her, preys and protects. The superlative size also has a double function: to provoke fear and compassion since, according to the artist, the enormous being shows vulnerability when trying to balance on its paws.

David, by Michelangelo
Florence // Italy

Commissioned by the Catholic Church as part of a series of figures of prophets and biblical characters, the statue is one of Michelangelo's main works. Hero of the Old Testament, David had defeated, with courage and dexterity, the giant Goliath, freeing the people from the threat of Philistine soldiers. The sculpture, inaugurated in 1504, was created to decorate the entrance to the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, in Florence, but ended up positioned in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of government at the time, and is now inside the Galleria dell' Academy. The work, a symbol of the Renaissance, is 5.17 meters high and impresses with its wealth of details, such as the marked muscles and even veins on the arms and hands. With this work Michelangelo showed his mastery in anatomical representation and assumed the total nude, something that, for the artist, was fundamental, since the body represented God's masterpiece.

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