Indonesian real estate developer Ciputra built the 30-meter-high (95 feet) statue in its CitraLand residential estate, hoping it will lure tourists and become a religious icon, the company’s marketing manager Sonya Lasut said.

“It looks like the Jesus is flying to bless people,” she added.

The white monument — which shows a robed Christ with his arms and palms outstretched above his head — took nearly three years to complete and cost five billion rupiah (about US$540,000). It also consisted of 25 tons of metal fiber and 35 tons of steel, Lasut added.

She said the Indonesian Museum of Records had certified the statue as Asia’s tallest Jesus — overtaking the 27 meter tall Cristo Rei in East Timor’s capital Dili — during a ceremony on Dec. 2.

However, Vietnam’s state-run tourism agency SaigonTourist says on its Web site that the southern coastal resort city of Vung Tau is home to a 32-meter-tall Jesus Christ statue. A museum official told AFP he did not have a record of the Vietnamese statue.

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