Plans for a massive statue of Christ are causing controversy in a Spanish municipality, where a religious group finds itself pitched against locals who oppose the sculpture and claim the funds it will swallow could be better spent.
In the west of Madrid, Boadilla del Monte is one of the wealthiest communities in Spain, boasting the second highest level of income per capita in the country. But discontent has broken out over a project by Christian organisation, the Asociación de Devotos del Corazón de Jesús de Boadilla (Association of Devotees to the Heart of Jesus of Boadilla) to raise funds and build the largest Christ statue in the world.
Measuring 37 metres in height and 60 metres in width, the monumental figure will not only tower seven metres higher than Rio De Janeiro’s famous Christ the Redeemer, which is 30 metres, excluding its pedestal, but would also beat the world’s current tallest statue of Christ: the 33-metre-tall Christ the King in Świebodzin, Poland.
To be sculpted by Javier Viver and made of reinforced concrete and carbon fibre, it will feature a 2.5 metre tabernacle heart. The construction will require funds of €17m, of which only €94,000 have currently been raised worldwide but the association behind it says the project is as yet only in phase one – planning and crowdfunding. The organisation says it expects to reach €5 million in funding before any building work starts. Completion is slated for 2030.
The giant Christ gained municipal approval nearly six years ago and the association behind it says that, as an international attraction that visitors can step inside, the figure will become a “beacon of devotion” that will in turn raise money for charity. They claim it has the support of the majority of residents.
But voices nearby say otherwise, with cost and land acquisition high on the agenda of those who oppose the Christ statue. Alessandra del Mónaco, leader of the local Socialist Party, has slammed the conservative Popular Party for giving it permission without any proper feasibility studies. “Given the price of housing in Boadilla, for example, it makes no sense to allocate available land for this,” she told The Times.
Social media commentary has criticised the statue as creating a “theme park” and includes fury that the funding is not being invested in services such as hospitals, housing and education.
Defending the monument the association that dreamt it up says it is “neither a luxury nor an ornamental gesture, but a courageous invitation to hope in a time marked by disenchantment and polarisation”. That disenchantment and polarisation however are now being turned against the very project meant to combat them.
