Mallorca Christ statue: petition fights removal bid

Mallorca’s Crist Rei statue has stood on Puig de Sant Salvador in Felanitx for more than 90 years: a petition now seeks to protect it from a bid to remove it. On Monday, 19 October, campaign group Hazte Oír is calling on the Mallorca Island Council to give the statue protected cultural heritage status. The call follows an application submitted in early October to list the sculpture as a symbol contrary to democratic memory and remove it.

Spain’s Ministry of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory has accepted that application for consideration, according to published information. No decision to remove the statue has been reported. The work, by sculptor Tomàs Vila, was unveiled in July 1934, during the Second Republic and before the Civil War.

Hazte Oír wants the Island Commission for Historical Heritage to begin the process of declaring the statue an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC). If protection already granted to the sanctuary covers the statue, the group wants the commission to confirm that instead. It is asking people to sign and share its petition, Salvemos el Cristo.

Felanitx Town Council meets for its regular October session at 18.00 on Monday. Mayor Catalina Soler has already spoken publicly against removing the statue.

Topics: Culture · Politics · Felanitx

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com