Size Matters

The largest (or if you prefer, most pretentious) monument to Jesus Christ is Christo Redentor, the 130-foot tall statue that has gazed down on Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, since 1921.

Or rather, it was. As of today, that honor now belongs to the small Polish town of Swiebodzin (I won’t even try to pronounce it), where a Jesus statue of about 136 feet tall (167 feet if you include the dirt mound it will sit on), beating out Rio’s, is being erected today. It was supposed to be finished yesterday, but high winds prevented the torso, arms, and crowned head from being set atop the robed legs (like the Rio Jesus, this one will also allude to a cross).

The project is the brainchild of a Polish priest, Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki, and you might think his inspiration came from veneration. Maybe it did. But the town’s support for the $1.5-million statue apparently comes from the less reverent motive of economic development. The community hopes that the monument will attract both Catholic pilgrims and German tourists (why anyone would want to attract German tourists, I don’t know, even if Germany is only about 45 miles to the west). According to mayor Dariusz Berkisz (these names would score big in the new Monopoly game that allows proper names), "The biggest statue of Jesus Christ in the world will be in Swiebodzin. People will come and leave some of their money behind." And much of that money will likely be left at the shopping center and super market across the street from the sanctifying statue. (It’s not unlike The Simpsons episode where a new shopping center uses a fake angel skeleton to promote its opening.)

Of course, the marriage of religion and economy is nothing new. What were the monuments of Greece and Rome if not religious beacons to fortune? And the cathedrals and churches of the Middle Ages were built (usually on the top of hills in order to be seen from miles away) in order not to indulge godly glory but rather to attract Catholic pilgrims and German tourists (or any other tourists that might wander through the area). Still, I don’t recall seeing any painting of the Medicis leaving the construction site of the Duomo in Florence in a silver Mercedes, as the Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki did yesterday.