In a small village near the Armenian capital of Yerevan, Jesus is waiting his moment.
For now, what is meant to become the world’s tallest statue of Jesus Christ is sitting behind a corrugated iron fence, in three main pieces. It’s been that way long enough that it’s made it onto Google Maps as ‘Statue of Jesus en construction,’ and draws visitors who stop for selfies.
The project is sponsored by Gagik Tsarukyan, a wealthy Armenian businessman turned politician and once an arm-wrestling champion who is considered a very controversial figure whose party recently finished far behind in a parliament election.
His political status has contributed to a debate about wealth and religion that may cloud the statue’s chance of eventually being lifted into place by helicopter. The plan is to place the 33 meter aluminum statue on a 44 meter pedestal on Mount Hatis. At that height, it would surpass Brazil’s Christ the Redeemer and overtake existing record-holding Christ monuments in Poland and Indonesia.
