Ahem . . . Not sure how to tell you this, zeno . . .
It ain’t a sculpture.
I’ve already said too much.
Is this something that will get me in trouble at work if I look at it?
Never mind…took the plunge. That looks like Cthulhu-Jesus rising from the sargassum…
And Pope Benny looks a whole lot sicklier than I usually picture him…he almost looks worse than JPII looked toward the end.
Actually, it sounds from the description here that it’s Pericle Fazzini’s Resurrection.
I’m going to come down as a definite on that, viewing the photo of Fazzini’s Padre Pio monument about halfway down this page, it’s definitely the same style.
That’s it. It’s in a room called the Paul VI Hall of Audiences or sometimes the Nervi Hall, where the Pope has public audiences. You can see more pictures here:
and here
http://picasaweb.google.com/claytonmemories/Rome/photo#5075597849609642098
I’d be nervy too if I had to sit in front of that. Impressive, but friggin huge!
They’d better have it nailed down good – if that sucker fell over it’d squash his Papal ass.
Hannibal Lecter collected church collapses, IIRC.
I attended a papal audience in that very chamber in 1993. Since it was, for the most part, a two-hour session of John Paul II saying “hello,” “God bless you”, “don’t forget to tip your Swiss guardsman”, etc., in about fifty different languages, one’s attention did tend to wander periodically. As a result I spent a lot of time staring at that particular sculpture, wondering why the heck the Vatican would commission a gigantic bronze treatment of Treebeard and Fangorn Forest marching on Isengard.
What’s going on with the dorks in the stripey costumes?
Those guys are with Swiss Guards and don’t call them dorks face-in-face. Despite jestery clothes they are tough like nails. And carry Glocks in their pants.
They’re the Swiss Guard.
Actually, they were just happy to see you.
When they do that joke they’re talking about the halberds…
But they hold those in their hands…
EEWWWWW!