The statue is 30 meter high and it stands on a 32-meter-high hill.
JAKARTA — Asia's tallest statue of Jesus Christ has been unveiled in the North Sulawesi Province of Indonesia, the world most populous Muslim country.
The statue is 30-meter high and stands on a 32-meter-high hill named Royal Highland in CitraLand Estates, Yuliarso Christiono, design manager in Ciputra real estate company which built the statue, told Reuters on Wednesday, December 12.
He said the Indonesian Museum of Records had confirmed that the statue is the tallest in Asia.
The statute, made of fiber and metal, took nearly three years to complete and cost five billion rupiah (about $540,000).
Christiono said the company owner Ciputra, a 76-year-old protestant, had designed and built the statue in gratitude of his success.
"He lived a simple life as a child in North Sulawesi and experienced a hard life under Dutch occupation. Now he is successful."
Ciputra hopes the white statue, which he calls the "Jesus Blessing Monument", will become a religious icon and attract tourists to Indonesia.
Muslims make up around 85 percent of Indonesian's total population of 220 million.
In a ceremony held last week, the Indonesian Museum of Records had certified the statue as Asia's tallest Jesus, overtaking the 27-meter Cristo Rei in East Timor's capital Dili.
The world's tallest Jesus statue is the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.
It stands 39.6 meters tall and is located at the peak of the 700-metre Corcovado mountain overlooking the city.
It was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World last year in a global online poll.
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