Managed to squeeze a quick trip across the water with Rosalie on a public ferry to Casilhas. We then hopped a bus to visit the Santuário de Cristo Rei (Shrine of Christ King.) The statue is enormous and stunning, and looms over the Lisboa waterfront much like the statue of Christ the Redeemer presides over Rio from Corcovado. The view was magnificent. Here's a 360 degree pan I took from the statues' base, and a pic Rosalie took of me doing a tripod headstand against the sunset....
I must confess - I'm a big fan of ponderously large religious statues. Rosalie and I have seen our share in recent years, from the swimming-pool-sized Temple of the Reclining Buddha in Bangkok to the immense Tian Tan Buddha on Lantau island we visited last year while in Hong Kong for a work conference. They're all profound and engender a rapturous awe, regardless of the faith you subscribe to. I grew up Muslim, reciting the "Surah Qul hu Allahu", which is a verse of the Koran declaring, among other things, how Allah was not begotten, shall not beget, and there are none like him. It's one of the suras that shapes the Islamic position disclaiming all idolatry. As I grew older, I found that theological position increasingly hard to wrap my head around. I don't see a problem with iconography. In fact, let me offer up this rather cynical axiom from a jaded marketing scribe: a God whose followers employ iconography will always have better branding than a faith that is determined to avoid visual stimulation. I hope that observation doesn't offend anyone...just my small contribution of blasphemy to the cesspool of sacrilege that is the world wide web....
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