This is not a story about religion. It is a travel story about finding Jesus—or, rather, about finding the tallest statue of Jesus in the world.
I did not set out to find Jesus or even to visit Świebodzin, a small town of 22,000 people in western Poland about 40 miles from the German border.
I was on my way to Berlin after spending 10 wonderful days devouring pierogies and visiting castles and cultural sights in Poland. But my train departed late on a breezy June day, and I missed my connecting train in Rzepin.
The Rzepin train station was closed due to construction. If there was any signage about the next train to Berlin, it was in Polish. Or I missed it.
A kindly gentleman in a suit nodded his head when I pointed at an arriving train and asked, “To Berlin?”
Turns out the train was from Berlin. But I didn’t realize that until the conductor checked my ticket 30 minutes later and told me I was headed east to Poznan.
Get off the train at the next stop, he advised. A direct train departs from Świebodzin to Berlin in an hour.
The Kindness of Strangers
I dragged my luggage off the train. I must have looked as anxious as I felt, standing on the empty platform between two train tracks.
Finally, a woman who had just gotten off a train I was considering boarding noticed my distress. “Where are you going?” she asked in English. She spoke briefly in Polish to the conductor, who was eager to signal the train forward.
She said I should wait for the 16:10 train, which goes directly to Berlin.
As we walked back to the station, she told me she grew up in Świebodzin but left after high school to be a nanny for a family in New Jersey. She gushed fluently in English about how much she had loved living in America.
I told her I was a travel writer equally impressed with Poland after visiting several of the country’s biggest cities–Warsaw, Wroclaw, and Szczecin. I was about to thank her and say goodbye when she turned to me and asked, “Do you want to see Jesus?”
Heading Toward Jesus
For several seconds, I just stared at her. Had I bumped into an evangelical in Poland who wanted to save me? I had no clue, but she smiled reassuringly.
“Świebodzin has the largest statue of Jesus in the world—it’s bigger than the one in Rio de Janeiro,” she told me. I realized she wasn’t kidding, and she was so enthusiastic I couldn’t say no.
“I’ll drive you there. It’s just outside of town,” she offered. “You have an hour, and I have time to show you.”
She moved some things around in the back of her minivan for my luggage. Then, she cleared the passenger seat of toys for me.
Marianna told me she was the mother of four children between the ages of two and 10.
Though I still had second thoughts, I figured a mom in a messy minivan was unlikely to kidnap or rob me.
Marianna was a chatty tour guide. As we waited at a stop light, she pointed out Świebodzin’s 16th-century town hall and two Gothic churches.
The Majesty of Jesus
When we reached the outskirts of town, I was stunned by the size and majesty of the statue, known officially as Christ the King.
Adorned with a gold crown, the white Art Deco sculpture of Jesus stands 108 feet tall and weighs 485 tons. His outstretched arms reach to the sky and measure nearly 80 feet from fingertip to fingertip.
The statue’s resemblance to Brazil’s iconic Christ the Redeemer Statue, which overlooks Rio de Janeiro from a nearby mountaintop, was intentional.
A local priest in the predominantly Catholic town came up with the idea of building a similar but taller statue of Jesus in Świebodzin in 2005. He raised $1.5 million, mostly from local donors and a few from around the world. Local business people did much of the design and construction work.
Once the concrete and fiberglass sculpture was erected five years later, pilgrims were expected to flock to the area. That hasn’t really happened. Marianna said she wasn’t sure why.
The Polish statue, including the gold crown, is the tallest likeness of Jesus, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. Christ the King stands about 10 feet taller than the statue of Jesus in Brazil. The Polish statue also out-measures the Christ of Peace Statue near Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Not everyone agrees on whether the crown should be included, however. And even if it is, Poland’s Christ the King doesn’t offer the stunning views that draw millions of visitors to the statues in South America.
What the Polish Jesus Sees
From its perch atop a 50-foot platform of stones and debris, the Polish Jesus statue overlooks mostly fields of flat, fertile farmland.
The signage is minimal and only in Polish. On weekends, there’s a donation box and a food stand selling snacks and curios. The walkway up to the statue’s base displays the Stations of the Cross.
Most visitors apparently stop after spotting the enormous statue in the distance from the two national Polish highways that pass through the area.
Moments of Awe
No matter your religious persuasion or how you happen to discover it, the Polish statue of Jesus is impressive for its sheer size alone.
I was in awe of the towering figure, walking around the base to view the statue from every angle until Marianna told me it was time to go.
We hugged goodbye like old friends when Marianna dropped me and my luggage at the station.
Visiting Świebodzin wasn’t on my itinerary. But my most indelible memories of Poland will always include meeting Marianna and finding the tallest statue of Jesus in the world.
Barbara blogs at barbararedding.com.
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