Christ, Colour and Concrete: Finding the Soul of Rio de Janeiro
By ANL | UPDATED: 18 Feb 2026
1. Selarón Steps
2. Rio de Janeiro Cathedral
3. Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro
4. Exploring More of Rio’s Icons
A personal Rio de Janeiro itinerary featuring Christ the Redeemer, Selarón Steps, and the Metropolitan Cathedral
This personal travel story of Rio de Janeiro follows a cultural itinerary through the city’s spiritual landmarks and artistic treasures and guides to some of the absolute highlights of Rio de Janeiro, offering a revealing way into the city. Together, three of Rio’s most famous sights, the Christ the Redeemer statue, the Selarón Steps and the striking Metropolitan Cathedral, offer far more than postcard views. They form a shared narrative about belief, art and identity in one of the world’s most intense and contradictory cities.
Rio is not a place that reveals itself all at once. It asks to be felt slowly, through contrast. Hints of belief, heritage, and humanity surface along the way, shaping the city in ways that are not immediately obvious. This way of travelling, attentive and reflective, forms the foundation of our Cultural Travel Method. How does a place this chaotic also feel so layered, both spiritually and culturally?
1. Selarón Steps
The air is already warm, the city already awake. Concrete, colour and traffic compete for attention, and Rio de Janeiro in some respects feels louder and more physical than expected, while in others unexpectedly quiet and reflective.
The Selarón Steps are among the cultural highlights of Rio de Janeiro.
We begin at street level, where Rio feels most immediate. The Selarón Steps rise between the neighbourhoods of Lapa and Santa Teresa, connecting two very different worlds. Created by the Chilean-born artist Jorge Selarón, the colourful staircase began in 1990 as a personal art project. Selarón started renovating the worn steps outside his home using blue, yellow and green tiles as a tribute to Brazil and its footballing spirit during the World Cup.
Colourful Selarón Stairs in Lapa on the border with Santa Teresa | Photo: Travel In Culture
What began as a small gesture gradually turned into an obsession. Visitors started bringing tiles from their own countries, and Selarón incorporated them into the work. Today, more than 2,000 tiles from around 60 countries cover the steps, which have become an enticing backdrop for photo shoots and spontaneous performances. Walking upwards, we find ourselves reading fragments of distant places, languages, and stories embedded into the fabric of Rio. It is wildly inspiring, following these visual narratives tile by tile, country by country, all the way up.
The famous Selarón Steps connecting Lapa and Santa Teresa, Rio de Janeiro.
Among Rio’s cultural sights, the Selarón Steps stand out as a vivid expression of creativity and identity. Red dominates much of the staircase, a nod to Selarón’s Chilean roots. The result is both chaotic and harmonious, a global mosaic held together by one man’s vision. This is belief expressed through art rather than religion, devotion made tangible through repetition and persistence.
Photo: Travel In Culture
Midway up the steps, samba dancers gather, filling the space with movement and rhythm. The moment feels joyful, almost celebratory, until our guide quietly pulls us aside and whispers a warning. Under no circumstances should we pass the dancers and continue higher. The area beyond is known for violent assaults and robberies, particularly targeting tourists. The contrast is unsettling. Colour and danger, creativity and vulnerability, existing side by side. From the foot of the stairs, everything looks peaceful, almost innocent. Behind the steps, however, murders are not unknown. It is an uncomfortable reminder that beauty in Rio often comes with an edge.
2. Rio de Janeiro Cathedral
From the noise of Lapa, we move towards something entirely different. Standing before the Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, officially the Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião – and often referred to as the Rio de Janeiro Cathedral, we pause. Is this really a cathedral?
The striking modern architecture of the Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
Built between 1964 and 1979, the concrete structure bears little resemblance to traditional churches. Its conical form rises abruptly, austere and almost industrial, with concrete interacting with glass and light in unexpected ways. Yet stepping inside, the city seems to fall away.
Eye-catching stained-glass windows inside the Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
The internal space is vast. With a diameter of 106 metres and a height of 96 metres, the scale is overwhelming. Four enormous stained-glass windows stretch from floor to ceiling, casting soft, shifting colours across the concrete interior. They unite into a cross at the top of the cathedral, forming the roof above the place of worship. The light transforms the space, making the hard material feel almost weightless. For a moment, time seems to disappear.
Outside, we notice reflections of the cathedral mirrored in the building opposite, as if the structure has folded itself into the city rather than standing apart from it. It feels integrated and grounded, shaping Rio’s identity rather than imposing itself upon it.
The modern cathedral is mirrored in the building opposite.
The surprise returns. Where does this place hold so many people? With a standing capacity of around 20,000 worshippers, it rivals some of Rio’s largest gathering spaces. Although its capacity is only a tenth of the original Maracanã Stadium, the comparison with both the stadium and the Sambadrome feels inevitable. All three are monumental, designed for collective experience, yet one celebrates faith through silence, while the other two erupt in sound, movement, and colour during matches and Carnival. Order and exuberance, devotion and spectacle, each essential to understanding the city.
The Metropolitan Cathedral reflected in nearby glass buildings.
3. Christ the Redeemer Statue in Rio de Janeiro
Leaving the city streets behind, we ascend Corcovado Mountain through the dense Tijuca rainforest. As early as 1824, a path was opened through the previously inaccessible forest to reach the summit overlooking Rio. In 1884, a railroad followed, inaugurated by Emperor Peter II of Brazil. These remain the two principal routes to the top today.
We briefly consider hiking to the summit through the lush forest, knowing that the views are said to be especially rewarding when approaching the top. The idea is soon abandoned. The final section of the trail is demanding, involving a steep climb with ropes for support, and the risk of robbery along this route is well documented. Instead, we choose to ascend by bus, accepting the safer and more practical option.
The famous Christ the Redeemer Jesus statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The road curves tightly, revealing flashes of green between concrete barriers. Along the way, a monkey appears, climbing casually along the railing, a quiet reminder of the Atlantic rainforest that still surrounds the city.
At the summit, the Christ the Redeemer statue, the most iconic Rio de Janeiro statue, stands 30 metres tall atop a mountain rising 704 metres above sea level. Completed in 1931, the Art Deco monument was designed by the Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski and engineered by the Brazilian Heitor da Silva Costa, in collaboration with French engineer Albert Caquot and Romanian sculptor Gheorghe Leonida.
The Rio de Janeiro statue
The idea for a monument dates back to Brazil’s centenary of independence. Early designs depicted Christ holding a cross and a celestial globe, but the concept was later simplified. Christ himself became the cross, arms outstretched. Reinforced concrete was chosen over bronze, a modern material for a modern nation, and funding came largely from the Catholic public.
Experiencing the statue firsthand is more than sightseeing. This Christ the Redeemer travel experience is as much about perspective, reflection, and connection as it is about the monument itself. Up close, the statue feels immense and immovable. Around us, the atmosphere is hectic. Platforms fill quickly, voices overlap and confusion spreads. Two fellow passengers from our bus misunderstand the meeting point, and we spend a long time searching for them before we can leave. Even here, above the city, disorder persists.
The Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro.
Yet looking out from the summit, perspective settles in. The city unfolds beneath us. We can spot the Maracanã Stadium, the Sambadrome, the Metropolitan Cathedral, the Botanical Garden and Sugarloaf Mountain. The favelas cascade down the hillsides, tightly packed and precarious, including a corner of the vast Rocinha favela, clearly visible from above. Beyond them, the beaches stretch along the coast, Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon drawing visitors with their promise of ease and glamour.
From here, the divisions feel less sharp. The statue appears to embrace it all, the spiritual and the secular, the marginalised and the celebrated. Rio does not become simpler from up here, but it becomes understandable.
Looking to stay near the iconic Copacabana Beach? Consider one of these hotels, all perfectly located for enjoying the best of this vibrant part of Rio.
4. Exploring More of Rio’s Icons
The area around the Maracanã Stadium is a popular place for a stroll.
Rio de Janeiro offers countless landmarks. The Maracanã Stadium, once the largest in the world, carries both sporting glory and post-World Cup scars. The Sambadrome, designed by Oscar Niemeyer, lies strikingly quiet outside Carnival season, its concrete stands waiting for rhythm and colour to return. Sugarloaf Mountain offers another panoramic view, reached by cable car, placing the city into yet another frame.
Yet it is these three places, the Selarón Steps, the Metropolitan Cathedral, and the Christ the Redeemer statue, the most recognisable Brazil Jesus statue, that linger longest. Exploring these spiritual landmarks reveals a Rio de Janeiro beyond the beaches, where cultural sights in Rio de Janeiro intersect with faith, art, and human resilience.
The famous sambadrome stands well protected behind its fence.
Moving through these spiritual landmarks in Rio de Janeiro, we are not simply sightseeing. We are navigating layers of belief, art, and humanity. Faith expressed through tiles and concrete, resilience carved into a mountainside, contradiction accepted as part of daily life.
Rio is not just a city you see. It is a city you feel, hear and climb. To move through it with patience and awareness is to experience the layers that lie beneath its surface, an approach that lies at the heart of our Cultural Travel Method.
Read next: Copacabana Beach Rio, Brazil: Exploring History, Culture, and Daily Life
Christ the Redeemer Statue & Selarón Steps | Rio de Janeiro
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Christ the Redeemer Statue & Selarón Steps | Rio de Janeiro:
Travel In Culture
