Statue of Christ the Redeemer in Fribourg Vandalized

Country: Switzerland

Date of incident: April 17, 2018


A few hours after it was installed on Boulevard de Pérolles on April 17th, replica of Rio de Janeiro's famed Christ the Redeemer statue was vandalized by a 24-year-old Syrian asylum seeker.

A spokesman from the Fribourg police said that witnesses reported seeing a man hitting the monument around 11:40 pm. Тhe wooden panel covering the base of the statue was partially torn off. The man was arrested and an investigation was launched. It was reported that two other people were involved in the incident.

The statue was installed to commemorate the occasion of the bicentenary of the founding the city Nova Friburgo in Brazil. 

The statue measures 12.5 meters high, including the pedestal. The project took eight months and 20,000 francs to complete. The monument belongs to the airline Edelweiss, which used it for the inauguration of its Zurich-Rio route and lent it to the Fribourg-Nova Friburgo Association.

Sources: La Liberté, 20 Minutes and Le Matin