Jesus Christ statue in smalltown Poland bids to rival Rio's Redeemer - Polidicks

[url]http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/28/jesus-christ-giant-statue-poland?intcmp=239[/url] [quote]Giant statue of a crowned Jesus Christ being erected in Swiebodzin, Poland. The statue, similar in design to the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, will be more than 100ft tall. Photograph: Lech Muszynski/EPA At more than 100ft tall, it will tower imperiously over the Polish town of Swiebodzin. But a giant statue of Jesus currently under construction has divided Polish Catholics and led to charges of megalomania against the Catholic church. The 36 metre (118ft)-high structure is being built on a 16 metre-high hill in the western Polish town. Locals claim it will be taller, just, than the 80-year-old Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, currently the world's highest statue of Jesus. The main body of Swiebodzin's Jesus is 33 metres high – a metre for each year he lived – and is topped with a 3 metre-high metal crown of thorns. The project has split Polish society with some expressing pride, others derision, and with many practising Catholics calling for it to be abandoned. The chief building inspector has received threats, including having a brick thrown through his car window. Supporters of the project, which is being led by local priest Sylwester Zawadzki, hope the statue will attract pilgrims from across the country, turning the economically downtrodden town into a "second Czestochowa", a reference to Poland's most popular pilgrimage site and home of the legendary Black Madonna shrine. The 400-tonne statue has been five years in the making. Originally, Zawadzki wanted a "small garden sculpture", but over time his ambitions have grown. The latest worries concern the sculpture's safety, after a crane collapsed when builders tried to place the head. As it fell, the head crushed a builder's foot, leading sceptics to call the accident a sign of God's disapproval. When Zawadzki suffered a heart attack the same claim was made. Building experts have voiced concerns that the statue's foundations – construction on which began even before planning approval was granted – are not deep enough. "We'll give it 20 years, maximum, then it'll fall apart," a building expert told Polish media. Zawadzki stands accused of paying workers derisory wages, expecting them to carry out the work for next to nothing as a sign of their faith, and even of bringing in inmates from the local prison to work on the project, under an agreement he allegedly hatched with the prison governor. Waldemar Roszczuk, editor of the local newspaper Gazeta Swiebodzinska, has been leading a campaign against the structure, which has been compared to the type of communist-era icons that once commanded squares and public places. "It's a monster of a statue which has nothing to do with Christian teaching," he said. "It's making us a laughing stock in the whole country."[/quote] TL;DR Church wastes money by building communist era icons of Jesus instead of helping. Polish priests drive Mercedes while students of Poland are forced to live off Vodka and bread. :D

The article says many catholics are opposing it, good. We have enough impressive monuments of Christ already, I think we can go without spending millions on another huge statue just to make our penises look bigger.

I'm not going to talk about ethics or politics, but the statue looks pretty awesome.

You make it sound like living off of vodka and bread is a bad thing.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;25730823]You make it sound like living off of vodka and bread is a bad thing.[/QUOTE] Half of Facepunch does it.

I'm not surprised Poland is doing it. They've seemingly been getting less and less secular.

kind of ironic seeing jesus promoted modesty

As if Jesus' e-peen wasn't already big enough.

Ha ha helping the poor and living modestly? Fuck that, let's build a giant statue!

Lol religious pissing contest. "My Jesus is better than your shitty Jesus"

I like how it started as a 'small garden statue' and is now a 400 ton monstrosity. And how the priest wants it because it'll bring in money. We all know Jesus was all about building huge icons to worship and making money.

Polands church is so corrupt and full of shit it makes all the churches look bad.

[QUOTE=HumanAbyss;25737007]Polands church is so corrupt and full of shit it makes all the churches look bad.[/QUOTE] well they made starsky's so that makes up for everything

Battle of the Christs [editline]30th October 2010[/editline] Slapfight!

Reminds me of the greek religions and how they had the giant statues of their gods. Funny how all religions are so different, yet they have so much in common.

Will never be as famous as the redeemer anyway

[QUOTE=marcin1337;25729143]Church wastes money by building communist era icons of Jesus instead of helping.[/QUOTE] I fully support this if "communist era icon" means he'll be holding an AK47.

Somewhere, Jesus is rolling in his grave.

[QUOTE=Explosions;25731261]Half of Facepunch does it.[/QUOTE] Half of facepunch can't grow facial hair dude.

Eastern Europe seems to like building enormous statues.

Oh fuck.... Guys, just let them do whatever they fuck they want, they'll sort it out sometime.

They are building a statue honoring our god, how dare they

Should have built a statue to Facepunch to be honest.

[quote]"It's a monster of a statue which has nothing to do with Christian teaching," he said. "It's making us a laughing stock in the whole country."[/quote] Well put.

[quote]"We'll give it 20 years, maximum, then it'll fall apart," [/quote] Real jesus lasted longer than a gigantic stone one Funny how the Egyptians have things made out of stone that lasted thousands of years, and in 2010 we're making shit that lasts 20

[QUOTE=marcin1337;25729143] TL;DR Church wastes money by building communist era icons of Jesus instead of helping. [/QUOTE] Yes, the Soviet Union was well known for it's monolithic Jesuses. (Jesi?)

[QUOTE=ZekeTwo;25747800]Real jesus lasted longer than a gigantic stone one Funny how the Egyptians have things made out of stone that lasted thousands of years, and in 2010 we're making shit that lasts 20[/QUOTE] Sure the Egyptian statues last a long time, but they're boring. This Jesus statue will have lights and spinning rims and noise makers n' shit.

[QUOTE=cheesedelux;25748538]Yes, the Soviet Union was well known for it's monolithic Jesuses. (Jesi?)[/QUOTE] I think he was referring more to the habit of making statues of various leaders and figures in their movement, but honestly they didn't make them anywhere near that large AFAIK. The largest communist-era statue I can think of that is in the neighborhood of 280 feet is the Mother Motherland statue outside of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad, and obviously it wasn't a particular person. Beyond that there is a Lenin statue in the same city that is 88m, which is including a 30m pedestal. [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/9/99/The_Motherland_Calls.jpg/274px-The_Motherland_Calls.jpg[/img] BTW, according to wikipedia it also happened to be the largest non-religious statue/sculpture until overtaken by an oversized Buddha structures in China and Thailand. Apparently there seems to be a similar cock contest between Asian nations over who can make the largest Buddha statue.

We need to make an even bigger Jesus.