On October 12, 1931, 95 years ago, Brazil inaugurated one of Christianity's most recognizable monuments: Christ the Redeemer, overlooking Rio de Janeiro from the summit of Mount Corcovado.
But behind the huge statue of Jesus Messiah there is an unusual connection to Poland.
One of its main creators was Paul Landovsky, a French sculptor born in Paris in 1875 to a Polish father who fled his homeland following the failed January 1863 uprising against Russian imperial rule.
His father, Eduard Landowski, was among the Poles who sought asylum in Western Europe after the Russian Empire suppressed the rebellion against its control of Polish territories.
Decades later, his son would help create one of the most famous Christian monuments in the world, thousands of kilometers from Poland. The sculpture was created and developed under the leadership of the Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa, with Landovsky responsible for its sculptural design. French engineer Albert Caquet contributed to the engineering of its structure, while Romanian sculptor Georga Leonida worked on the face of Christ.
Landowski created models and sculptural elements in France, including the monumental head and hands, before the statue was assembled and completed in Brazil.
The finished monument stands 30 meters (98 ft) tall, excluding its 8 meter high plinth, with its arms outstretched about 28 meters (92 ft).
Amazingly, Landowski never traveled to Brazil to see his completed masterpiece in person.
The statue has since become a worldwide symbol of Christianity, a defining landmark of Rio de Janeiro and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, attracting millions of visitors every year. Its history also reflects the extraordinary legacy of Polish immigration following the uprisings against Russian rule in the 19th century.
A Polish refugee fled his occupied homeland, settled in France and raised a son whose artistic legacy would eventually become one of the most recognizable images of Jesus Messiah anywhere on Earth.