The name Świebodzin first came up during one of
my tutoring sessions at school. My student and I were reading an article
about the Seven Wonders of the World, and when 'Christ the Redeemer'
statue was mentioned, my student stopped reading and said, "You know,
there's a larger one in Poland." He proceeded to tell me about 'Christ
the King,' the much lesser known (but ever so slightly taller) statue
located in Świebodzin,
Poland. My student was critical of the monument, saying he thought the
money used to build it would have been better off going to a charity,
but I thought it was an interesting piece of information nonetheless. A
week or so later, when I was planning my trip from Berlin back to
Elblag, I came across Świebodzin on the map and
realized that it would be quite easy for me to stop along the way back
to visit Pomnik Chrystusa Króla, as he is known in Polish.
And so
I did. I hopped off the train on my way to Poznan to see what is
officially the world's tallest statue of Jesus on a cold January
afternoon. Dragging my suitcase behind me, I walked about a half a mile
from the train station in search of the statue. And I learned as I was
walking that Świebodzin is a strange place. The
town is pretty tired and worn down, with nothing else to recommend it as
a tourist destination. You would think that the tallest statue of Jesus
in the world would be a centerpiece of the town, but the statue itself
is hard to find, located in the middle of an empty field far from the
center of town. There's not even sidewalk halfway along the road as you
walk to the statue, a detail of which I was acutely aware as I tugged my
suitcase through the gravel on my mini-pilgrimage.
The statue finally became visible as I emerged from among the houses, trees, and power lines along the gravel road. It really is massive, and it had an impact on me when I finally saw it. Christ the King is 33 meters tall, 3 meters taller than its Brazilian counterpart, but only due to the crown on his head (which seems a little like cheating to me, I don't know...)The statue overlooks a giant, empty field and a Tesco supermarket across the street. Such a big monument seems out of place in the middle of nowhere. On a cold Wednesday afternoon, the place was deserted, which only added to the strangeness of it all. I decided to hide my suitcase in a big bush and climb up to see Jesus up close. There's a narrow, winding path up and around to the top of the statue, where you can hike up and see the view (mainly an empty field). I spent a little bit of time up there on my own, in the cold and quiet. Then I climbed back down, fetched my suitcase from the bush, and headed back to the train station.
The statue finally became visible as I emerged from among the houses, trees, and power lines along the gravel road. It really is massive, and it had an impact on me when I finally saw it. Christ the King is 33 meters tall, 3 meters taller than its Brazilian counterpart, but only due to the crown on his head (which seems a little like cheating to me, I don't know...)The statue overlooks a giant, empty field and a Tesco supermarket across the street. Such a big monument seems out of place in the middle of nowhere. On a cold Wednesday afternoon, the place was deserted, which only added to the strangeness of it all. I decided to hide my suitcase in a big bush and climb up to see Jesus up close. There's a narrow, winding path up and around to the top of the statue, where you can hike up and see the view (mainly an empty field). I spent a little bit of time up there on my own, in the cold and quiet. Then I climbed back down, fetched my suitcase from the bush, and headed back to the train station.
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| The statue's view |
