“Maybe they will build a statue there”
By Paulo Áureo
In May 2007 this blog quoted Ronaldo’s brother Hugo, as reported by The Times, on the demolition of the family’s old house: “Maybe they will build a statue there.” We did not count it as a forecast. Perhaps we should have.
At noon on 21 December 2014 Cristiano Ronaldo unveiled a bronze statue of himself on Praça do Mar, by the cruise port in Funchal. It is 3.40 metres tall, weighs 800 kilograms and shows him about to take a free kick. The Madeiran sculptor Ricardo Veloza made it in ten days.
“For me this is a special moment, to have a statue while I am still alive,” Ronaldo said. Not on the spot of the old house, then, but close enough for us. In 2016 the statue moved a short way to stand in front of his museum and hotel, where it stands today.
Sources: Observador, Ronaldo unveils his statue in Funchal, Sky Sports, Ronaldo unveils statue of himself on Madeira