''The Resurrection'' (''La Resurrezione'') is an 800-

quintal The quintal or centner is a historical unit of mass in many countries which is usually defined as 100 base units, such as pounds or kilograms. It is a traditional unit of weight in France, Portugal, and Spain and their former colonies. It is comm ...

(80-metric-ton) bronze/copper-alloy sculpture by

Pericle Fazzini Pericle Fazzini (4 May 1913 – 4 December 1987) was an Italian painter and sculptor. His large work, '' La Resurrezione,'' is installed in the Aula Paolo VI in the Vatican City in Rome. Life Fazzini was born on 4 May 1913 at Grottammare ...

in the

Paul VI Audience Hall The Paul VI Audience Hall ( it, Aula Paolo VI) also known as the Hall of the Pontifical Audiences is a building in Rome named for Pope with a seating capacity of 6,300, designed in reinforced concrete by the Italian architect Pier Luigi Ne ...

in Rome.Associated Press.
Fazzini Dies; Sculptor, 74
. ''Schenectady Gazette'', 4 December 1987. Accessed 29 April 2014. Intended to capture the anguish of 20th century mankind living under the threat of

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

, ''La Resurrezione'' depicts Jesus rising from a nuclear crater in the

Garden of Gethsemane Gethsemane () is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus underwent the agony in the garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. It is a place of great reson ...

. The sculpture's dimensions are . The commission for the work was ordered by Count Galeassi in 1965; casting began at the Michelucci Art Foundry in

Pistoia Pistoia (, is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a t ...

in 1972; the final sketch was produced in 1975; and the work was completed and inaugurated on 28 September 1977. The original work was done in

polystyrene Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is ...

and the fumes of the burning plastic gave Fazzini a

blood clot A thrombus (plural thrombi), colloquially called a blood clot, is the final product of the blood coagulation step in hemostasis. There are two components to a thrombus: aggregated platelets and red blood cells that form a plug, and a mesh of cr ...

during its production.For us every statue is a prayer
. ''L’Osservatore Romano''. 19 September 2012. Accessed 29 April 2014. The statue was restored over three months in 2011.Gambardella, Carmine & al.
''La Resurrezione'' by Pericle Fazzini in the Aula at the Vatican: The restoration of contemporary art by sacred multi-disciplinary dimensions
. Accessed 29 April 2014. In commemoration of the 2013 Easter, the Vatican Post issued a postal stamp depicting the sculpture.

References

1977 sculptures Vatican City culture Christian art about death Statues of Jesus Sculptures in Vatican City Nuclear war and weapons in popular culture Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane in art {{VaticanCity-stub

See also

References