SWIEBODZIN, Poland — A gigantic statue of Jesus that Poles claim is the world’s largest rose majestically above a small town Saturday, as the grandiose dream of a local priest finally came to pass.
The white statue with outstretched arms and golden crown, rising above the western Polish plains in Swiebodzin, provides competition to Rio de Janiero’s iconic Christ the Redeemer.
The mayor of the western Polish town, Dariusz Bekisz, says it is now the world’s tallest.
The Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki, the 78-year-old priest who created the statue, said it rises 108 feet, or 33 meters — one meter for every year that Jesus lived. Other members of the construction team, however, gave differing figures. One said it rises 51 meters if you include a mound it sits on and the crown on the head.
By comparison, the statue in Brazil’s Rio is 125 feet, or 38 meters, tall.
The “Christ the King” statue has divided Poles and underlined the deep cultural divide between a deeply Catholic population and an increasingly confident secular society — with many mocking the statue project as tacky.
