SW News: Brazil will soon have a new Catholic monument which will be a feather in the cap of religious tourism like the towering Christ the Protector statue in Encantado. A mammoth rosary will come up in Rio Grande do Sul in Mucum municipality which is 160 km from Porto Alegre.

Complete with a giant cross, the 800-meter rosary monument will have 59 chapels in the place of each bead of the Hail Mary. Each chapel will be five meters high and it will be dedicated to Our Lady under a particular title and the country where She is the patroness. The Our Father beads will have narrations of the mysteries of the rosary with mapped projections for visitors to interact and learn about them.

Work on this mega rosary is slated to begin in September and it is expected to be blessed and opened for public viewing in the second half of next year. Spread across 10 hectares, the rosary monument encompasses a parking lot, a souvenir center, a food court and an artificial lake.

The estimated cost of the project is 30 million USD and it will be financed by entrepreneurs, community donors and other benefactors. According to Robinson Gonzatti, one of the investors and a staunch devotee of Our Lady, “The Rosary will join Christ and other religious attractions to contribute to the faith and development of the region.” It is estimated that around 25,000 visitors will come to visit this monument every month.

It is expected that the rosary monument will boost religious tourism in the Vale do Taquari region along with the Cristo Protetor statue which has already been visited by 100,000 from 50 nations. The statue is taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue of Rio de Janeiro. The Christ the Protector statue is 140 feet high and it is the third tallest statue of Jesus in the world.

Christ the Protector in the southern city of Encantado will be 43m (140 ft) high with its pedestal, making it the world's third tallest Jesus statue. From hand to hand, the statue measures 36 meters and there is an internal lift to take visitors all the way up to a viewpoint in the chest region.