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Christ Church
Homeless Jesus statue set to be unveiled in Dublin
Casts of the sculpture already exist in other parts of Europe and North America.
A STATUE OF a homeless Jesus is set to be unveiled in Dublin today.
The bronze sculpture depicts Jesus as a homeless person on a park bench.
The original statue was installed in Toronto, Canada in 2013 and has subsequently casts have been erected in cities across North America and Europe.
It will today be blessed by the Church of Ireland Archbishop Michael Jackson and the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin.
An official unveiling of the statue designed by Canadian sculptor Tim Schmalz will take place at 3pm.
The statue itself is around 7ft long and depicts a faceless cloaked figure lying on a bench.
It is only noticeable that the figure depicts Jesus by the holes in his feet.
A number of potential sites were put forward for the statue before Christ Church was chosen by Schultz.
Dean of Christ Church, the Very Reverend Dermot Dunne, said, “I think the statue is absolutely beautiful. It goes beyond religion”.
Speaking about the statue, sculptor Schmalz, said, “I am delighted that the sculpture is going in the spiritual heart of Dublin, which is Christ Church… when I met the Dean, I saw in his eyes instantly that he was just delighted to have the sculpture at Christ Church.
He talked about the sculpture with a deep powerfulness.
The sculpture has been donated to Dublin by an anonymous North American Episcopalian benefactor, who is also donating the statue to 11 other European cities.
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