Cristo Rei, Sacred Heart of Jesus monument in Garajau, Portugal.

Cristo Rei is an Art Deco statue of Jesus Christ standing on a rocky promontory at Ponta do Garajau, between Caniço and Funchal. The figure, also called the Sacred Heart statue, has its arms extended toward the Atlantic. A cable car runs from the plateau below the monument down to the beach.

French sculptors Pierre Lenoir and Georges Serraz created the statue in 1927 at the request of landowner Aires de Ornelas and his wife. The work was completed during an era when such monumental religious sculptures were beginning to emerge across Europe.

The statue recalls that until 1770 only Catholics could be buried on Madeira; non-Catholic Christians were thrown from these cliffs. The British Cemetery of Funchal, opened that year, gave them a burial place, and the Jewish Cemetery followed in 1851. Aires de Ornelas financed the monument in remembrance of this history.

The statue stands on a rocky headland at Ponta do Garajau between Caniço and Funchal, reached by road from either town. A cable car runs from the plateau down to the beach below. The site is an open viewpoint over the Atlantic, so expect wind and sun with little shade.

The statue was consecrated on 30 October 1927, four years before Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer. It is also called the Sacred Heart statue, and the Garajau cable car runs from the plateau below it down to the beach.