Authorities in the Papua region of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, are reportedly planning to build the world’s largest statue of Jesus Christ, which would dwarf the famous “Christ the Redeemer” statue in Brazil.
“The statue will be international-class, truly the most magnificent in the world,” said Papua’s Head of Public Works, Djuli Mambaya, Coconuts Jakarta translated on Tuesday from a report in Detik News.
The statue, which would be built at the top of Puncak Gunung Swajah in the city of Jayapura, would cost somewhere between $22.6 million to $37.6 million, which is a significant amount of money for Papua, where 28.5 percent of the population live below the poverty line.
Mambaya explained that the Jesus statue would be at least 165 feet tall in height, with a base of 328 feet, which is far larger than Rio De Janeiro’s “Christ the Redeemer,” which is 98 feet tall, though adding in the platform rises to 124 feet.
“We will build an elevator in the statue of Jesus Christ, like the one in Jakarta’s Monumen Nasional, in order to see the entire city of Jayapura through the eyes of Jesus,” Mambaya added.
Although a location for the proposed statue has been chosen, the provincial government is still waiting for approval from the regional parliament in order to go ahead with the building project, so the plans are not yet finalized.
If built, the monument would also be taller than the “Christ of Peace” statue in Bolivia, which stands at over 112 feet in height.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth
