Armenia's giant Jesus statue: How tall it is, who is paying, and why its own church says no

101 metres.

That is how tall Armenia's new Jesus monument will stand from the ground to the top of his head. Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro is 38 metres. New York's Statue of Liberty is 93.

A short clip of the statue this week passed 275,000 views. "Armenia is building what will be the largest statue of Jesus Christ in the world," it said. People loved it. Many wrote that America needs one too.

But the most surprising push-back does not come from atheists or from abroad. It comes from Armenia's own church.

Where is the giant Jesus statue in Armenia?

It is meant to stand on Mount Hatis, a peak of about 2,500 metres in Kotayk Province. The mountain sits roughly 25 to 30 kilometres northeast of the capital, Yerevan. From the top, Jesus will be visible from much of the city.

For now, he is not on the mountain. The aluminium figure sits in three huge parts at an open-air workshop in Zovuni, a village near Yerevan. Tour guides have started adding a stop there for foreign visitors.

The first plan was to fly the pieces up by helicopter. That idea was dropped. They will now go up by truck and be put together at the top.

How tall will the Armenia Jesus statue be?

The figure of Jesus is 33 metres tall, one metre for each year of his life on earth. It will stand on a huge pedestal. Together, the monument is planned to reach 101 metres, or 331 feet, according to Radio Free Europe and The Guardian. Some early reports gave a lower total of 77 metres.

The figure on its own is about the same size as the other giant Christs. The record comes from the base.

So on the figure alone, Bolivia's Christ is a little taller and Poland's crowned Christ is level. Counting the whole thing from the ground, Armenia wins by a mile. It would be almost three times the height of the Rio statue.

Photo: Arne Müseler / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 de

Who is paying for the Jesus statue in Armenia?

Not the government, and not the church. The money comes from Gagik Tsarukyan, one of Armenia's richest and most divisive men.

He is a former arm-wrestling champion who made his fortune in gambling, alcohol and mining after the Soviet Union fell. He keeps six tigers, three lions and alligators at his estate, The Guardian reported in June. He also leads a political party and has served in parliament.

No official cost has been published. The plan goes far past one statue. There is to be a museum inside the pedestal, a cable car, hotels and restaurants. Tsarukyan says the site will one day draw 10 million tourists a year. He has also started building a giant Noah's Ark nearby, 134 metres long.

"We are the oldest Christian nation in the world," he told The Guardian. "It only makes sense we should have the biggest Jesus statue in the world." Armenia made Christianity its state religion in AD 301, the first country to do so.

He has even said Donald Trump is invited to the opening. Big dreams on his own terms are nothing new in viral stories. One man has been walking home around the world for 28 years, and a woman once spent 500 days alone in a cave.

Why is the Armenian Church against the statue?

Soon after the project was announced in January 2022, the Armenian Apostolic Church said it does "not consider the installation of a statue of Our Lord Jesus Christ acceptable." That is the national church most Armenians belong to.

In Armenian tradition, large freestanding statues of Jesus are seen as too close to idols. Armenian faith has been shown for centuries through churches, monasteries and khachkars. These are stone slabs carved with a cross and lace-like patterns, and they are found all over the country.

Photo: Vsatinet / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

So the online reply that Armenia's church rejects 3D statues of Christ is broadly right. Statues of Christ are rare in the country, Radio Free Europe reports, and some that do exist have been vandalised.

Tsarukyan brushes this off. He says he gets on well with the church and has paid for eight churches himself.

Is a giant Jesus statue a graven image?

That fight broke out in the replies too. Many people quoted Exodus 20:4: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image." Some called the statue blasphemy.

Others pushed back. They said Christians have long drawn a line between making an image and worshipping it. Jesus became a real man that people saw, so showing him in art has been normal for most of church history. Rio's statue has stood since 1931.

Inside Armenia, the complaints are often less about theology and more about money. One analyst in Yerevan told Radio Free Europe the project is rooted in one oligarch's ego. He said many believers feel the cash should have gone to the church instead.

What will Jesus look like on the statue?

"He didn't look like that" was another common reply. Nobody knows what Jesus looked like. The Bible never describes his face.

The design was picked by contest. Twelve finalists went to a public text-message vote from 28 April to 5 May 2022. The public result was combined with a judging panel. Armenian sculptor Armen Samvelyan won on 10 May 2022.

His Jesus is white, with arms spread wide, much like the Rio statue.

Photo: Derbrauni / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

When will the Armenia Jesus statue be finished?

The goal is now 2027, a project spokesperson told Radio Free Europe in March. It was first meant to be done by 2025.

The road has been rough. At the ground-breaking in July 2022, work on the summit reportedly damaged parts of an ancient fortress. The culture ministry froze the project. In January 2025 it ruled the statue could not go on that spot. The pedestal was moved a few hundred metres to a lower peak. Work on the base restarted in September 2025.

Politics got in the way too. Tsarukyan's party won under 4% in June's election, just short of the bar to enter parliament. The day after, investigators came to charge him with tax crimes. He has since been arrested, and he says it is political. The government denies that.

Workers told the Armenian outlet CivilNet the project was about 60% done but had slowed. Nobody has said it is cancelled.

So will the world's biggest Jesus ever stand on Mount Hatis?

Tsarukyan says nothing will stop it. "How can a man be afraid?" he asked The Guardian. "This is how I will inscribe my name in history."

Whatever happens on the mountain, the giant already exists. He is 33 metres of white aluminium, split in three, towering over a village yard outside Yerevan. Tourists are already driving out to see him.

Armenia has been Christian for more than 1,700 years. It has never had a Christ this big. The pieces are made. Now they just need a road up the mountain.