King of Kings (statue)

King of Kings (also referred to as Touchdown Jesus) was a 62-foot (19 m) tall statue of Jesus on the east side of Interstate 75 at the Solid Rock Church, a 4000+ member Christian megachurch near Monroe, Ohio, in the United States.

It garnered widespread recognition and various nicknames during its existence from 2003 or 2004 until its destruction by lightning and subsequent fire on June 14, 2010.

A replacement statue, called Lux Mundi, was assembled and dedicated on the site in September 2012.

Construction

It was designed by Brad Coriell, a Nashville artist and Dayton native. The statue was built by sculptor James Lynch of Florida, and assembled by Mark Mitten.

Its steel frame was constructed in nearby Lebanon, while the body, made of Styrofoam and fiberglass, was created in Jacksonville, Florida in Lynch's studio then trucked north. The main body of the statue was made from a core of Styrofoam covered by a thin skin of fiberglass. During installation, initially the head and arms were found to be too small for the chest, requiring Lynch to spend three months recasting these components.

Characteristics

It reportedly stood 20 feet taller than originally planned. The statue depicted Jesus from the torso up, appearing to burst from the ground, or a man-made reflecting pool, behind the church's amphitheater worship space. His arms were raised into the air.

Despite its large size, its skin, made of plastic foam and fiberglass over a steel frame, was noted as being thin enough to bend to the touch of a finger. The entire figure weighed 16,000 pounds, or 8 tons. At night, the statue was illuminated by spotlights from below.