Christ the King of Vung Tau

At the foot of Núi Nhỏ in Vũng Tàu, one look up is enough. A giant white figure stands against the blue sky with its arms spread wide. Those arms reach across 18 meters. The statue itself is 32 meters tall, and it stands 136 meters above the sea. Whenever a boat runs from Ho Chi Minh City to Vũng Tàu, passengers usually see that white figure from far off, before anything else.

This is the statue of Christ the King, the most recognizable symbol of the Vũng Tàu coast. In January 2012, a council that certifies Asian records recognized it as the largest statue of Jesus in Asia at the time.

But the road to building it was anything but simple.

In 1972, Father Phaolô Nguyễn Minh Tri and the Catholics of Vũng Tàu began building a statue of Christ. It was to be 10 meters tall on a 5-meter pedestal. The planned site was Nghinh Phong Cape, at the foot of Núi Nhỏ, close to the water. But in 1973, the work was ordered to stop. The Buddhist Church had lodged a complaint over the land.

The two sides sat down together. On February 16, 1974, they signed a compromise. The Catholic Church could build on the summit of Núi Tao Phùng, another name for Núi Nhỏ. A month later, on March 18, 1974, the provincial government issued document number 140, formally allowing construction on the mountain. The statue moved from the foot of the mountain to its top.

That is a piece of history many people do not know. At first, the statue was not meant to stand on the summit at all.

Work went on, and the first phase was finished on April 30, 1975. Then everything stopped.

In the early 1990s, Bishop Phaolô Maria Nguyễn Minh Nhật of the Diocese of Xuân Lộc wrote to ask for permission to repair the statue. On January 28, 1992, the People's Committee of Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu province issued document number 233. It formally allowed Father Trần Văn Huyên to continue restoring and completing the statue. The building team brought together the painter and sculptor Văn Nhân, the engineer Nguyễn Quảng Đức, and 50 skilled workers.

On December 1, 1994, the Christ the King monument was officially inaugurated.

So the statue is the work of two periods nearly 20 years apart, and the labor of love of many generations of Catholics in Vũng Tàu. Even before the inauguration, on January 18, 1993, it had been recognized as a national historical and cultural relic.

The path up has more than 800 stone steps, winding around the mountainside. There is no cable car and no electric shuttle. There is only the climb on foot.

At the pedestal, the climb deserves a pause. Carved on the pedestal are Jesus and the 12 apostles, his first disciples. Many people hurry past this carving on their way into the statue, but it rewards a close look.

And here is what makes the statue of Christ the King in Vũng Tàu most special. Visitors can climb up inside the statue and step out onto its arms.

Inside, a very narrow spiral staircase of 133 steps leads up to the shoulders and out along both arms.

But for those who make the climb, the moment of stepping out onto the statue's arm is hard to forget. From there, all of Vũng Tàu lies below. Bãi Sau, the Back Beach, runs for more than 8 kilometers toward Cửa Lấp. Bãi Trước, the Front Beach, lies on the other side of the mountain. Beyond them are Gành Rái Bay and the open sea, stretching as far as the eye can see. Behind the statue, at the very top of Núi Nhỏ, stands the round white tower of the Vũng Tàu Lighthouse. The French built it in 1862 and rebuilt it in the early 20th century. It still works every night, guiding ships and boats.

People often ask whether this statue is bigger than Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. The answer is that the statue in Vũng Tàu is a little taller, 32 meters against 30. But its arm span is much shorter, 18 meters against the 28 meters of the statue in Brazil. To be precise, it was recognized in 2012 as the largest statue of Christ in Asia, and it is still one of the largest statues of Christ in the world.

This is a living Catholic place of worship, not only a place to sightsee. The Tao Phùng Pilgrimage Center is one of the official pilgrimage sites of the Diocese of Bà Rịa. On the feast of Christ the King, at Easter and at Christmas, crowds of pilgrims come here from all over.

From the statue's arm, with the open sea ahead, it is easy to see why people waited so patiently, nearly 20 years, to finish this work. Below, Vũng Tàu stretches along the shore. Waves break on Bãi Sau and Bãi Trước, and the sea wind blows up to the summit. And on those white arms spread wide in the open sky, everything suddenly feels very small and very peaceful.