Image Number

• N042000

Year

• 1965

Series Title

• General: General collection
• Specific: General collection

General Note

• "Christ of the Abyss" or "Christ of the Deep" is a 9-foot bronze statue of Jesus Christ anchored to a platform in about 25 feet of water at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The statue is a casting of the original "Il Cristo Degli Abissi" sculpted by Italian artist Guido Galletti in 1954 and placed in San Frottuoso Bay near Genoa, Italy. Egidio Cressi, an Italian industrialist and sport diver, commissioned the casting and presented it as a gift to the Underwater Society of America. U.S. Senator Spessard Holland of Florida volunteered John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park as a permanent home for the statue. On August 25, 1965, Cothon Construction Company of Islamorada lowered the statue into place. It was dedicated on June 29, 1966.
• John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is located on U.S. Highway 1 three miles north of Key Largo at mile marker 102.5. The park opened to the public in May 1963. This was the nation's first underwater park. John Pennekamp was a Miami newspaper editor who helped facilitate the establishment of both this park and Everglades National Park.

Rights

• 

Additional Corporate Creator

• Florida. Board of Parks and Historic Memorials.

Physical Description

• 1 photonegative - b&w - 5 x 4 in.

Subject Term

• Decorative arts
• Carving (Decorative arts)
• Stone carving
• Figurines
• Statues, Religious
• Parks--Florida--Monroe County

Geographic Term

• Monroe County (Fla.)
• John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park (Fla.)

Personal Subject

• Jesus Christ--Statues.

Subject Corporate

• Florida Park Service.

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