THE FLORIDA KEYS INTERNET GUIDE

KEY LARGO DRY ROCKS - "CHRIST OF THE DEEP"

Key Largo Dry Rocks has mooring buoys that encircle this shallow reef. The depth ranges from 15 feet to 25 feet. The "Christ of the Deep" statue is marked by a spar buoy. FLORIDA KEYS

"Christ of the Deep", a nine foot high bronze statue, symbolizes peace of mankind from an unusual setting – beneath the waters of the Florida Keys - Key Largo National Marine Sanctuary. The statue of Christ, with his upraised arms, symbolizes peace and understanding in the same manner as the Christ of the Andes, another heroic-sized statue that stands high in Uspallata Pass in the South American Mountains. Created in Italy by sculptor Guido Galletti, the 4,000-pound statue stands on a twenty-ton concrete base seven and one-half feet tall and eleven square. The donors attached no strings to the gift except that the statue be displayed in a strictly non-commercial, non-sectarian manner, and that the services of competent consulting engineers be accepted in placing the figure on the ocean floor. Florida’s "Christ of the Deep", unique in the Western Hemisphere, is a duplicate of "ll Cristo Degli Abissi" (Christ of the Abysses) placed in fifty feet of water in the Mediterranean Sea near Genoa in 1954. FLORIDA KEYS

It was an Italian underwater swimmer, Duillio Mercanet, who had the idea for an undersea shrine or statue that would inspire those who lived by the sea, work or play on or under the sea, or comfort those who have lost loved ones to the sea. FLORIDA KEYS

The interest that lead to the statue and its dedication became international, and then in 1961 another figure of the Christ was cast from the same mold for Egidi Cressi, internationally known industrialist and undersea sportsman. Cressi turned it over to the Underwater Society of America as a token of his "regard and high esteem for American underwater sportsmen", and authorized that group to find a suitable resting-place for it, specifying only that it not be commercialized or cheapened. After studies of possible sites, the society felt that the ocean floor off the Florida coast would be appropriate, particularly since the clear waters would enable it to be viewed better by people who go below the sea’s surface. FLORIDA KEYS

As was said of the Christ of the Abysses when that statue was dedicated, it can be said of the Christ of the Deep: "He will descend in the green silent depth of the sea and remain there to protect the living. The dead shall no longer be lonely. His carpet will be of soft algae. His naves and columns will be the pillars of the earth sunk in the great cerulean depths. Ships and phantoms of ships will crowd around Him; living men and dead men. The shadows of all those who lost their lives in the sea will be present, without discrimination of nationality, blood or color. With His liberal gesture of invitation, He will welcome everybody; all who lived for the sea and who, in the same sea they so dearly loved, found their eternal peace." FLORIDA KEYS

Description courtesy of Atlantis Dive Center.

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