The Cristo Rei Viewpoint, in Garajau, provides visitors with an excellent view of the bay of Funchal, the Garajau Natural Reserve, Caniço de Baixo and the Atlantic Ocean.
The majestic fourteen-metre-high statue stands on top of a hill which drops
into a ravine, towards the sea.
It is here that non catholic Christians were thrown from the
cliffs as only Catholics were allowed to be buried on the island until 1770
when the British Cemetery of
Funchal was established for non catholic
Christians.
The statue of Jesus Christ was built by
French artists Georges
Serraz and Pierre Charles Lenoir and erected on
October 30, 1927. The statue
was financed by a distinguished lawyer by the name of Aires d’Ornelas de
Vasconcellos and his wife D.Maria de Jesus de Souza e Holstein, whose sole
purpose of having the artists build the statue was to fulfill a promise.
Aires d’Ornelas was the last kin of the família Morgado, a prominent family
from Caniço.
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