The small Polish town of Świebodzin is to become home to a 51-meter tall effigy of Jesus Christ, which is set to top the list as the world's tallest statue of Jesus.

The body will measure 33-meters tall, one meter for each year in Christ's life. A two-meter tall crown and 16-meter-tall plinth will bring the total height of the statue to 51 meters.

Once work is completed in late November, the effigy is expected to overshadow Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer, which stands at 39.6 meters, and the Cristo de la Concordia in Cochabamba, Bolivia, which stands at 40.44 meters.

The project has been the lifelong dream of local priest Sylwester Zawadzki who has been buying up land and drumming up support for the project over the past five years. “My first vocation was to become a priest. My second was to build the statue,” he told AFP.

But despite Poland being a devoutly Catholic country, the statue has divided society. Supporters envisage Świebodzin becoming a center for pilgrims from throughout the country. Opponents on the other hand have accused the Catholic Church of megalomania.

“It's a monster of a statue which has nothing to do with Christian teaching,” Waldemar Roszczuk, leader of the campaign against the effigy, told the UK's Guardian. “It's making us a laughing stock in the whole country,” he added.

The statue has also come in for heat from building experts who have warned that the foundations are not deep enough to support the structure. “We'll give it 20 years, maximum, then it'll fall apart,” the Guardian quoted one building expert as telling the Polish media.

Concern has also been raised over the safety of the construction project after a crane hoisting the head into position collapsed, injuring one worker.


Warsaw Business Journal by Andrew Shale

Warsaw Business Journal - Poland to host world's tallest Jesus
2nd November 2010