Thursday, December 10, 2015

The underwater statue of Christ of the Abyss


If you dive 18 meters (55 feet) under the Mediterranean sea off the coast of San Fruttuoso in the Italian riviera, you will discover a submerged bronze statue of Jesus Christ with his head and hands raised skyward.

Christ of the Abyss, which is 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) tall, was sculpted by Guido Galletti, and placed in the Mediterranean Sea on August 22nd, 1954 near the spot where Dario Gonzatti, the first Italian to use Scuba gear, died in 1947. After almost 5 decades underwater, the statue was corroded and completely covered by crustaceans, while a hand had been detached, probably by an anchor. In 2003, Christ of the Abyss came back to surface to be restored and returned to the water on a new base a year later. 

The original plaster cast of the statue is stored in the National Museum of Underwater Activities, while 3 more copies of it exist: a copy of the statue was submerged in 1962 in Key Largo, Florida. Another copy was placed in September 17, 1972 in Lake Palü, Val Malenco, and a smaller copy of the Christ exists off the coast of St. George's, Grenada since 1961. 






SEE ALSO: More underwater abandoned places // More abandoned places in Italy // LIST OF ALL DESERTED PLACES 
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1 comment:

  1. The Christ of the Abyss is not abandoned.
    Believe me, I'm from Liguria and know it very well.

    ReplyDelete

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