It's called The Christ of the Ozarks. It was built in 1966 and is in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Alas, the history of the statue is quite controversial. It's all tied up with a man who ran for President and was known for his racism, anti-semitism and associations with the Klu Klux Klan. If you go to the official web site it will say the sculptor also worked on Mount Rushmore, but that is suspect. The only thing he worked on for sure is nearby Dinosaur World. The statue was built to accompany a biblical theme park that was never built. Eureka Springs once attracted people to its "health springs" and now, according to one source, is known for the way it attracts conventions of kooks (UFO, Hells Angels etc.) and is listed in Ripley's Believe It or Not more than any other city in the U.S. If you think it looks familiar that's because it bears a striking resemblance to the famous Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil, though the one in Rio has a little more grandeur about it. You can read about Charles Robertson
here. What's my prize?
It's called The Christ of the Ozarks. It was built in 1966 and is in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Alas, the history of the statue is quite controversial. It's all tied up with a man who ran for President and was known for his racism, anti-semitism and associations with the Klu Klux Klan. If you go to the official web site it will say the sculptor also worked on Mount Rushmore, but that is suspect. The only thing he worked on for sure is nearby Dinosaur World. The statue was built to accompany a biblical theme park that was never built. Eureka Springs once attracted people to its "health springs" and now, according to one source, is known for the way it attracts conventions of kooks (UFO, Hells Angels etc.) and is listed in Ripley's Believe It or Not more than any other city in the U.S. If you think it looks familiar that's because it bears a striking resemblance to the famous Christ the Redeemer in Rio, Brazil, though the one in Rio has a little more grandeur about it. You can read about Charles Robertson here. What's my prize?
2 comments:
I'm pretty sure I saw that statue on my missions trip to Boonsville, Arkansas two years ago. to bad I didn't get any photos to prove it.
I didn't see the statue, but it's in the northwest corner of Arkansas, which has a lot of natural beauty. Eureka Springs is a tourist trap; a friend spent a couple days there years ago and will go back some day. We spent a month in Siloam Springs in '86 with friends.
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