12. Statue of Jesus Christ

There are many people who know about the statue of Jesus Christ in Brazil, especially through the international football tournament in this country. However, one thing that few people know is that the largest Jesus Christ statue in the world is not located in Brazil but in Vietnam, right on Nghinh Phong beach cape – the beautiful Vong Nguyet beach of Vung Tau beach.

The already gorgeous Nghinh Phong – Vong Nguyet beach in Vung Tau has been made even more attractive by renovations to the Southernmost portion of Small Mountain and the construction of a large sculpture of Jesus Christ. Located at an altitude of 170m above sea level, the 32m high statue stands out amidst the landscape of green mountains and blue sea, which is a symbol that appears when setting foot in the coastal city that everyone must look up to and that symbol appears naturally in the minds of visitors every time the coastal city of Vung Tau is mentioned.

The statue was built in 1974, after a thorough preparation of the design. All work is chaired and performed by Vung Tau Catholic Association. Sculptors such as Cao Uy, Van Nhan and dignitaries in the Church, were tasked with consulting thousands of Christ images and designing sketches, then sketches were sent to the National Exhibition of Religious Culture and Art to absorb more comments from artists.

The construction of the statue was assigned to a group of talented engineers: Nguyen Van Duc and talented craftsmen such as Mr. Tam Luan, Nan, Quy, Hoa, Hoang… Over the course of a year, 50 workers worked every day, diligently contributing to the statue so it looks like today.

Anyone who has ever sweated even just leisurely walking the 800 steps up to the mountain scenery here will understand how difficult the conditions for building the statue were. High mountains, heavy materials, rocky foundations, and scaffolding systems are very challenging. The project lasted until 1975 and was unfinished from April 30, 1975 until nearly 20 years later before it was continued. In 1994, the project was completed as originally sketched and became a large architectural and artistic sculpture, combining natural landscape with modern Vietnamese artistic architecture with bold national and artistic characteristics shown through the patterns on the statue’s shirt, making a figure of Western religion very close to Vietnamese culture.

With a height of 32 m, an arm span of 18.4 m, the Jesus Christ statue is considered by experts to be the tallest statue in the world, larger than the Brazilian Jesus Christ statue built by two countries Argentina and Brazil (26 meters high and 10 meters long arm span).

The Jesus Christ statue on the Small Mountain overlooking the East Sea, with benevolent face, outstretched hands as if protecting sentient beings. As a statue built of reinforced concrete, the outside of granular-textured plaster, but the details of art and aesthetics such as natural but firm posture, happy, gentle facial expressions, gentle laps of dress are very soft… very lively and creative by the craftsmen.

The 32 meters high Jesus Christ statue is elevated another 10 meters thanks to a bow-shaped pedestal, the front decorated with a bas-relief modeled after the famous work of the Italian painter – Leona de Vinci – “Farewell party”, the back is a large picture of “God gives the key to Peter”.

Inside the statue, there is a spiral staircase for visitors to go from the base of the statue to the top. The airy inside of the statue is designed to be light and airy thanks to the sunlight and sea breeze flowing in through the Longevity word-shaped “window” system like the clever patterns decorated on the statue’s body.

Climbing up the 133 steps, visitors can see the panoramic view of the windy Vung Tau sea on two sturdy balconies that are the shoulders and sleeves of the statue. In front of visitors is Nghinh Phong cape like a ship rushing through countless waves and seeing Back Beach with thousands of layers of waves like laurel wreaths embracing the bow-shaped strip of land blurred in smog… From this position, visitors can not only admire the majestic natural scenery but also admire human labor and creativity when seeing up close the two hands of the Jesus Christ statue that are up to 2.2 meters long, with 9 halo rays made of metal that are both decorative and of effect of  a lightning rod.

Standing in the middle of the majestic natural scenery, in the protective arms of God, visitors will find peace of mind, all worries and entanglements are gone with the wind, and all difficulties and challenges become small in front of the vast ocean. It is no coincidence that religious and belief centers, whether in the East or the West, whether in ancient times or today, are also oriented to the high mountains, the cleanest place, the closest place to the supernatural world, where people are purified and refreshed in the most effective way. That is also a great reward for those who are determined to conquer themselves, conquering the mountain peak and the world’s tallest Jesus Christ statue in Vung Tau city.