Saturday, April 05, 2008

Kinda Cool


    Christ of the Abyss is a 8 1/2 foot, 4000 pound bronze sculpture of Jesus Christ that stands in 25 feet of water off of Key Largo, Florida. It is located near Dry Rocks, about six miles east-northeast of the Key Largo Cut, in the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park.

    It is a copy of "Il Cristo Degli Abssi," located in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa, Italy. The original statue was cast by artist Guido Galletti, and was modeled after Italian swimmer/diver Duillo Mercanet. It was placed in 1954.

    In 1961 Italian SCUBA entrepreneur Egidi Cressi commissioned the second casting from the original mold, and donated it to the Underwater Society of America. The statue ended up in storage at O'Hare airport in Chicago, waiting for a home. Senator Spessard Holland of Florida helped John Pennekamp Park to get the nod, where it was placed on August 25, 1965.

    Today, Christ of the Abyss is one of the most famous and popular underwater sites in the only underwater park in the world.

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