ENCANTADO, Brazil — A statue of Christ is being built in Brazil that will be larger than the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro.

The image, which has been under construction since 2019, will be called Cristo Protector and is being erected on the Cerro de las Antenas, a hill near Encantado in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

The project was planned to be completed by the end of 2021, but the state government extended the deadline until the end of January 2022.

Christ the Protector will be 140 feet tall, 16 more than the Christ the Redeemer in Río de Janeiro.

Christ the Protector will be 118 feet wide hand to hand. Once completed, visitors will be able to take an interior elevator to the heart on the statue’s chest, from where they will have a panoramic view of Encantado, Lake Garibaldi, and the Taquari Valley.

With these dimensions, the Christ the Protector statue surpasses Christ the Redeemer, built in 1931 of reinforced concrete, 125 feet tall on a 25 foot pedestal. The arms of Christ the Redeemer stretch 92 feet.

Christ the Protector has a budget of approximately $364,000 and has been financed by the local community, especially by the “Amigos de Cristo,” a non-profit association which seeks to promote “faith and devotion” with the monumental project.

According to the Spanish news agency "EFE," Christ the Protector was designed by the sculptor Genésio Gomes de Moura and his son, Moisés Markus Moura.

At the end of December, the governor of Río Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, signed an agreement with the mayor of Valle de Taquari for paving the roads that will allow visitors to reach Christ the Protector.

The work will improve the 1.4 mile tract that gives access to the statue of Christ and will also build a path for pedestrians.