The statue was designed, and its construction supervised, by Mochamad Syailillah, who is better known as "Bolil". It was officially unveiled by PresidentSuharto of Indonesia in 1996 as a gift from the Indonesian Government to the people of Timor Timur, the then Indonesian province.
Location
The statue, and the globe on which it rests, are mounted on the peak of Cape Fatucama at the end of the Fatucama peninsula.[1][2][3] The statue is accessible from the car park at Cristo Rei Beach, on the south side of the cape, inside the Bay of Dili, via a 570-step concrete staircase shaded by trees.[4][5][6][7]
From the base of the statue, there are panoramic views back over the bay towards Dili in the south west, out over the transition between Ombai and Wetar Straits to Atauro Island in the north, and down to Jesus Backside Beach facing Wetar Strait in the east.[3][7]
Suharto put national airline Garuda Indonesia in charge of leading the project. Garuda was given the responsibility to find capital for funding the project, and raised 1.1 billion rupiah (US$123,000). However, that was not sufficient to erect the statue, and contributions from East Timorese civil servants and businessmen were needed to complete the project, which eventually cost more than 5 billion rupiah (US$559,000).[8]
Meanwhile, Garuda engaged Mochamad Syailillah, better known as "Bolil", to design and build the statue. Bolil, whose workspace was in Bandung, had never previously constructed a large statue. He travelled to East Timor to inspect Cape Fatucama, which the Governor had nominated as the proposed site. The terrain at the Cape was of suitable strength for the erection of a large and tall statue.[8]
Taking that terrain and calculations of the very strong local winds into account, Bolil designed the statue and made a prototype of it. The design portrayed the subject wrapped in a robe. The face of the statue proved to be difficult to render; after much effort, including consultation with the Communion of Churches in Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta, the artist gravitated towards Greek and Roman facial features, and aimed at simplicity.[8]
Almost a year of work was required to create the statue's body, which was fabricated by 30 workers in Sukaraja, Bandung, to the completed design. The body was made of 27 separate copper sections, which were then loaded onto three container trailers and shipped to Dili aboard a chartered ship. Installation of the statue by the team from Bandung, including the globe and a 10m-high (33ft) cross, took about three months. A bamboo frame was installed at the site to facilitate the lifting of the copper sections, each of which weighed 100–200kg (220–440lb), up to the 100m-high (330ft) peak.[8]
Prior to the unveiling of the statue, East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmão, who was then being held in prison in Jakarta, was scathingly critical of it:
"This is Jakarta's propaganda to deceive its own people and the international community. Suharto, both at court and elsewhere, was a political leader. What [Roman Catholic] Bishop [Carlos Filipe Ximenes] Belo disapproved of was political interference with the church. I don't know if the Bishop will be at the event. Hopefully not. Because this could mean that the Dili church is under Jakarta, even though it is directly under the Vatican."[8]
The statue was unveiled on 15 October 1996. Bishop Belo, together with President Suharto and Governor Soares, used a helicopter to witness its revelation directly from the air.[8] A few days earlier, the Norwegian Nobel Committee had embarrassed the Indonesian government by awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 1996 to Bishop Belo and José Ramos-Horta "... to honour their sustained and self-sacrificing contributions for a small but oppressed people."[9]:159 In his own public comments on the statue, Bishop Belo said:
"What's the point of building a statue to Jesus if people are not going to be treated according to the gospel? It would be better to improve the situation rather than build statues."[9]:159[10][11]:82
Before East Timor ceased to be a province of Indonesia, the statue was given an award by the Indonesian World Records Museum for being the tallest statue in the country.[1][8] Since East Timor regained independence in 2002, the statue has been not destroyed, but, instead, preserved and re-presented as a tourist attraction.[11]:83,84
Timorese argue that the statue now 'belongs' to East Timor, regardless of its originators and their purposes.[9]:160 It is the source of considerable native pride,[9]:160 and, as "... an iconic symbol of the country and its Capital City of Dili ...",[12] is now a haunt of locals as well as being one of East Timor's main tourist attractions.[1][13] Even Gusmão has changed his position; while he was serving as Prime Minister of East Timor between 2007 and 2015, his government supported the renovation of the statue.[9]:107
The statue is now also seen as a physical symbol of the figure of Christ, of suffering, and of the Catholic faith that is now part of being East Timorese.[11]:85 It is gesturing with embracing arms, and is oriented towards the west, which, as some have observed, is the direction of Jakarta.[2][11]:83 However, the artist has said that the Governor had asked that the statue face towards Dili.[8] The arms and hands of the statue are held in place with steel wire rope, to withstand the wind pressure; there is also a wind vent in the armpit of the statue's robe, linked by a pipe to another vent at the back of the robe.[8]
Visitors climbing the staircase from Cristo Rei Beach to the statue pass 14 stations, which are places of prayer for Catholics. The 14 stations symbolise the Stations of the Cross passed by Jesus Christ on his walk to Calvary or Golgotha on the day of his crucifixion.[1][3]
Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, SDB, commonly known as Carlos Belo or Ximenes Belo is an East Timorese prelate of the Catholic Church. He became a bishop in 1988 and served as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Díli from 1988 to 2002. In 1996, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with José Ramos-Horta for working "towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor". He is a professed member of the Salesians.
Dili is the capital and largest city of East Timor. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountains. The climate is tropical, with distinct wet and dry seasons. The city has served as the economic hub and chief port of what is now East Timor since its designation as the capital of Portuguese Timor in 1769. It also serves as the capital of the Dili Municipality, which includes some rural subdivisions in addition to the urban ones that make up the city itself. Dili's growing population is relatively youthful, being mostly of working age. The local language is Tetum; however, residents include many internal migrants from other areas of the country.
East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. The country comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor and the nearby islands of Atauro and Jaco. The first inhabitants are thought to be descendant of Australoid and Melanesian peoples. The Portuguese began to trade with Timor by the early 16th century and colonised it throughout the mid-century. Skirmishing with the Dutch in the region eventually resulted in an 1859 treaty for which Portugal ceded the western half of the island. Imperial Japan occupied East Timor during World War II, but Portugal resumed colonial authority after the Japanese surrender.
Francisco Xavier do Amaral was an East Timorese politician. A founder of the Frente Revolucionária de Timor Leste Independente (Fretilin), Amaral was sworn in as the first President of East Timor when the country, then a Portuguese colony, made a unilateral declaration of independence on 28 November 1975. He was a member of the National Parliament for the Timorese Social Democratic Association from 2001 until his death in 2012. Amaral was also known as "Abo (Grandfather) Xavier", a term of endearment, by East Timorese.
St Joseph's High School is a private Catholic secondary school, located in Dili, Timor Leste. The school was founded by the Catholic Diocese of Díli in 1983–84, when East Timor was still part of Indonesia. In 1993 the school was entrusted to the Society of Jesus, with a ten-year commitment.
The União Nacional dos Escuteiros de Timor-Leste is the national Scouting organization of East Timor. It was founded on December 2, 2005 through the merger of the Corpo de Escuteiros Católicos em Timor-Leste and of Timor-Leste Scouting. The organization is a member of the Comunidade do Escutismo Lusófono. It became a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movement on 22 June 2017.
Nicolau dos Reis Lobato was an East Timorese politician who is considered the national hero of the country.
East Timor and Indonesia established diplomatic relations in 2002. Both share the island of Timor. Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony in 1975 and annexed East Timor in 1976, maintaining East Timor as its 27th province until a United Nations-sponsored referendum in 1999, in which the people of East Timor chose independence. Following a United Nations interim administration, East Timor gained independence in 2002. Indonesia already had a consulate in Dili during the Portuguese colonial period, though Indonesia formalized their relations by establishing an embassy in Dili. Since October 2002, East Timor has an embassy in Jakarta and consulates in Denpasar and Kupang. Relations between the two countries are generally considered highly positive, despite various problems. Numerous agreements regulate cooperation in different areas. East Timorese are visa-free in Indonesia.
Basílio do Nascimento Martins was the East Timorese Roman Catholic Bishop of Baucau.
The Immaculate Conception Metropolitan Cathedral in Dili is the main church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dili, East Timor.
The Church of Santo António de Motael is the oldest Roman Catholic church in East Timor and is located in Dili, the country's capital city. It is dedicated to Anthony of Padua. While the first church at this location was built around 1800, the current building dates back to 1955.
The Christ of the Mercy is a colossal statue of Jesus Christ in the city of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, to a height of 134m above sea level . The statue is located high above the northernmost seawall in the bay of San Juan. At the foot of the statue is a small chapel. Information: Inside the chapel, the full name of the work is provided, along with text dating the construction to 2009. As of January 2017, the entrance fee is $2 for foreigners and $1 for Nicaraguan nationals.
The President B. J. Habibie Bridge is a two-lane road bridge in the suco of Bidau Santana, an inner suburb of Dili, capital city of East Timor. It is named after B. J. Habibie, the President of Indonesia who decided in 1999 to hold that year's referendum on whether East Timor would become independent of Indonesia.
The Bay of Dili is a bay on the north coast of East Timor adjacent to Dili, its capital city. The bay forms part of Ombai Strait, which separates the Alor Archipelago from the islands of Wetar, Atauro, and Timor in the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Cristo Rei Beach is a public beach facing the Bay of Dili in the suco of Metiaut, East Timor.
Dolok Oan, also known in English as Cristo Rei Back Beach or Jesus Backside Beach, is a public beach located in the suco of Hera, a short distance northeast of Dili, East Timor. The beach forms part of the south shore of Wetar Strait, immediately to the east of Cape Fatucama.
Areia Branca Beach is a public beach on the north eastern shore of the Bay of Dili, in the suco of Metiaut, East Timor. It is very popular with both local residents and tourists.
Cape Fatucama is a cape or large headland a short distance north east of Dili, on the north coast of East Timor. It is best known as the site of the Cristo Rei of Dili, a colossal statue of Jesus Christ.
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