Rio de Janeiro awarded World Heritage by UNESCO

The "cultural landscape" of Brazil's second largest city Rio de Janeiro was officially awarded World Heritage on Tuesday by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Rio thus won "the title of the first urban cultural landscape declared a World Heritage," UNESCO said on its website.

At a ceremony at the city's Tijuca National Park, UNESCO's coordinator of culture in Brazil, Patricia Reis, presented Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes the certificate.

The cultural landscape in Rio consists of the Tijuca National Park, Corcovado Mountain, Copacabana Bay and so on. Among those sites, the most photographed one is the iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer that overlooks the city from the top of Corcovado Mountain.

Standing atop the mountain, the statue is heavily exposed to rain, wind and sun. Some 1.5 million U.S. dollars are required annually for its upkeep. Recently, Rio de Janeiro started a campaign to raise money to restore the famous statue.

source: Xinhua