In July 2007, in an election promoted by the Swiss foundation New7Wonders, with 100 million votes cast online and by telephone, the Christ, the Redeemer statue was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The other sites chosen were: the Great Wall of China, the Petra Monument, in Jordan, the Inca city of Machu Picchu, in Peru, the Chichén Itzá pyramid, in Mexico, the Colliseum, in Rome, and the Taj Mahal palace, in India. Now a year later, Brazil’s most famous postcard has a photo book worthy of it.

In order to publish Cristo Redentor: História e arte de um símbolo do Brasil (Christ, the Redeemer: History and art of a Brazilian symbol), organizers Leonel Kaz and Nigge Loddi selected 163 photos out of more than 10 thousand found in a variety of archives such as the one in the Estado de Minas newspaper, owner of the collection from extinct magazine O Cruzeiro and the Jewish-Brazilian Historical Archive. Leonel is used to digging through up to 40 thousand photos for other similar books that have been published by his publishing house, Aprazível, like: Brasil Rito e Ritmo: Um século de música popular e clássica (Brazil: Rite and Rhythm: One century of classical and popular music); Brasil Palco e Paixão: Um século de teatro (Brazil Stage and Passion: One century of theater); and Brasil: Um século de futebol (Brazil: One century of football). Leonel was getting ready to work on a book about Brazilian Carnival, when the idea about doing a book on Christ, the Redeemer came up. 

The book shows rare photos, especially the ones taken during the 1930s and 1940s, a period referred to by the book as the “Baby Christ” age. “We try to bring more than images. The aim is to portray an environment, recreate an epoch", says Leonel, with regard to the places and the way people dressed.  While other books dealt with how images act as a reflection of the history of the century, the book about Christ, the Redeemer chose to focus on, for example, what was on the site, before its opening on October 12, 1931.

The book is filled with beautiful historical and contemporary images. The latter were taken by photographers Cristiano Mascaro and Cláudio Erliner. Each of the four sections of the book (The Historical Image, The g fBuilding of the Image, The Sacred Image and The Artistic Image) is accompanied by a text by four different authors: Antonio Edmilson Martins Rodrigues, coordinator of PUC-Rio's Social History of Culture graduate course, architect Flavio Castellotti, journalist and classical music critic Luiz Paulo Horta and doctor of Philosophy Luiz Camillo Osório. The purpose of the book is summarized by editor Leonel Kaz: “To highlight the profile of Christ, not only on the minds of the Rio de Janeiro natives but also on the minds of all Brazilians”.