On Sunday, November 21, 2010, the solemnity of Christ the King on the liturgical calendar, about 15,000 Christian pilgrims and tourists streamed into the western Polish town of Swiebodzin for the unveiling of what has been billed as the world’s tallest statue of Jesus, eclipsing Rio’s famous Christ the Redeemer. The statue stands at 36 metres (118 feet). Father Sylwester Zawadzki, who is the Roman Catholic pastor of the local parish dedicated to Divine Mercy, came up with the idea to build a statue of Christ larger than any other in the world five years ago. The statue is a total 58 metres (190 feet) high from the base and 24 metres wide at the arms. Like Christ of Concordia in Bolivia and the Christ of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil — both of which measure about 33 metres without their pedestals, the Christ of Swiebodzin is entirely white, but unlike the other two statues, the figure in Poland has a golden crown.
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