基督像（Cristo Rei）

With arms stretched wide above the Tagus, the Cristo Rei has blessed Lisbon from the southern bank since 1959. The statue itself is smaller than Rio’s famous Christ the Redeemer, but the view it keeps — over the river, the 25 April bridge and the whole of the city — is arguably the finest in Portugal.

A monument born of a promise

The bishops of Portugal vowed in 1940, during the Second World War, to raise a monument to the Sacred Heart if the country were spared the conflict; the first stone was laid in 1949 and the shrine was inaugurated on 17 May 1959, before some three hundred thousand people. The tower, by the architect António Lino, stands 82 metres high and carries a 28-metre figure of Christ by the sculptor Francisco Franco. A lift rises to the terrace at 84 metres, below the statue’s feet, where the view takes in the Castle of São Jorge on its hill, the estuary and, on clear days, the hills of the Arrábida to the south.

What to see

• The terrace under the statue, 84 metres up
• The chapel of the Confidents of the Sacred Heart
• Lisbon and the 25 April bridge from above
• The shrine gardens and picnic spaces
• The perspective of the statue seen from the river ferries

Practical information

Cristo Rei stands at the Alto do Pragal, in Almada, across the river from Lisbon. The classic approach is the ferry from Cais do Sodré to Cacilhas followed by a local bus; by car, cross the 25 April bridge and follow signs to the sanctuary. The lift to the top charges a small fee; the esplanade below is free.

Image credit: Cristo Rei by Ammar Munir Hefnawy — CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.