Plan to build Christ statue ‘bigger than Rio's' prompts outcry in Spanish town
A religious group from the town of Boadilla del Monte, a municipality just outside Madrid, said they are raising funds to build the largest 'Sacred Heart' Christ statue, at 37m high and 60m wide.
The statue will also include a 2.5m tabernacle heart, while the torso and the head are to be built from reinforced concrete and the arms from carbon fibre.
The statue will be constructed and designed by sculptor Javier Viver, whose work is largely dedicated to making religious imagery.
If the project is completed, the statue will stand taller than Rio De Janeiro 's Christ the Redeemer, which is 30m excluding the pedestal it sits on. It would also reach higher than the current tallest statue of Christ, Christ the King in Świebodzin, Poland, which stands at 33m tall.
The campaign is being driven by the Asociación de Devotos del Corazón de Jesús de Boadilla (Association of Devotees of the Heart of Jesus of Boadilla), who said that the project will cost €17m.
It plans to raise the funding through grassroots donations from around the world, with over €94,000 currently raised.
The organisation said that building the statue is at the will of many residents who have requested that the local council erect the monument within the municipality.
The proposal was approved in a municipal plenary session on 15 November 2019 without opposition from any group.
It said the purpose of such a large statue was to be a global attraction, becoming a place of pilgrimage for visitors around the world, with enough space for people to enter inside the monument.
The organisation says it is in phase one of three of the project, currently planning out the sculpture and crowdfunding, and hopes to hit €5m before it starts construction.
If the statue reaches its funding goal, the organisation expects the monument to open in June 2030 after three years of construction.
Some residents and local politicians have criticised the project for its extravagance, especially amid the ongoing housing crisis in Spain.
Alessandra del Mónaco, the local Socialist Party head, criticised the conservative Popular Party for granting the land without looking into the project's viability.
'Given the price of housing in Boadilla, for example, it makes no sense to allocate available land for this,' he said, according to The Times.
Others have taken to social media to say that funding should be invested in hospitals, housing and education rather than what has been described as a 'theme park' attraction rather than a spiritual monument, Info Boadilla reported.
The organisation said that the monument is 'neither a luxury nor an ornamental gesture, but a courageous invitation to hope in a time marked by disenchantment and polarisation'.
It aims for the stature to be a 'beacon in reconciliation and a symbol of love', as well as raise money for charities.
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Times
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Constable or Lowry: which artist best represents Britain?
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