By Shoghik Galstian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — Gagik Tsarukyan, a wealthy businessman and politician, on Monday claimed to have addressed government concerns about his controversial project to erect a giant statue of Jesus Christ on a mountain near Yerevan.
Tsarukyan said the statue is “almost ready” as he spoke with journalists at a workshop where it is hewn.
“You must be looking and seeing that there is nothing like this in the world, that ours must be the best, the most beautiful and imposing in the world,” he said.
Tsarukyan announced plans to place such a statue on Mount Hatis in January 2022, saying that it will serve as a “guardian of our country and people” and impress the outside world. The Armenian Apostolic Church said the idea is inappropriate and goes against Armenian Christian tradition. That did not stop Tsarukyan from organizing a contest for the statue and announcing its winner in May 2022.
The statue designed by sculptor Armen Manvelyan will stand 33 meters (108.3 feet) tall atop a 44-meter pedestal to be perched on Hatis. The mountain located about 30 kilometers northeast of Yerevan itself stands more than 2,500 meters above sea level.
