A man has scaled to the top of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that looks over Rio to take a selfie that will take some beating.

Lee Thompson, 31, of London managed to talk the Brazilian tourist board to agree to let him climb the 38m-tall statue, which sits atop the Corcovado mountain.

The statue was undergoing repairs from damage in a lightning storm when Thompson made the climb, filming his progress as he went up 12 flights of spiral staircase and crawled through a small hole to appear on the statue’s head.

Writing on his blog at The Flash Pack, Thompson said:

As far as selfies go, I can’t compete with popes, presidents, and radical Russians, because as a photographer my job is to take the shots, not star in them. But when the opportunity arose to take the world’s first (and so far only) selfie with Jesus, I couldn’t resist.

My #selfie at the top of Christ The Redeemer statue in #Rio! See more crazy pics here! http://t.co/RkgnT0f0Pr pic.twitter.com/fK49cK6hH5

— Lee Thompson (@snapperlee) May 29, 2014