Cristo del Pacífico, "the Christ of the Pacific", is a 37 metre high statue of Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

 erected in Lima

Lima

Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

, Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, in 2011. Its erection was ordered by Alan García, the president of Peru, and described as a parting gift to the nation on occasion of his leaving office after the 2011 presidential election

Peruvian general election, 2011

The Peruvian general election, 2011 took place on 10 April 2011. Since no candidate received more than half of all valid votes, a second round was necessary to determine the winner. This second round took place on 5 June and determined the successor of Alan García, as well as 130 members of the...

. It was inspired by, and has been described as a copy of, the Christ the Redeemer

Christ the Redeemer (statue)

Christ the Redeemer is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the 5th largest statue of Jesus in the world. It is tall, including its pedestal, and wide. It weighs 635 tonnes , and is located at the peak of the Corcovado...

 statue in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

.

Height

At 37 metres including its pedestal, and 22 m without, the statue is smaller than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, which measures 39.6 m, 30 m without its pedestal.

Controversy

The statue has caused controversy in Peru, because it is seen as a government endorsement of Christianity, because its lighting system is deemed unsightly, and because it is seen as too similar to the Christ the Redeemer statue. No coherent explanation of this controversy can exclude the fact that García is widely disliked among many sectors of the Peruvian people; derisive nicknames for the statue, all based on the Rio statue's alternate Spanish name Cristo del Corcovado

Corcovado

Corcovado, meaning "hunchback" in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The granite peak is located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park. It is sometimes confused with nearby Sugarloaf Mountain...

, include "Cristo de lo Robado" ("Christ of the Stolen [Loot]", in reference to accusations of government corruption during García's first term in the 1980's) and "Cristo del Gordo Vago" (Christ of the Fat Lazybones", in reference to García having put on weight).