the sugar loaf mountain (pão de açúcar) looms large on the skyline overlooking rio de janeiro's harbor. the granite colossus,  which reaches out into the atlantic ocean and stands just shy of 400 meters tall, is one of the city's major tourist attractions.

some debate surrounds the origin of the name of sugar loaf mountain, but perhaps the most acknowledged is the account that the portuguese settlers named the mountain 'pão de açúcar' due to its appearance, which resembles the inverted cone-shaped, clay molds used to prepare refined sugar for transportation in the 16th century.