Christus Statue Unveiled at Visitors’ Center

A ten-foot-high marble statue of the resurrected Savior was unveiled June 24 at the Washington Temple Visitors Center by Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve. He said the statue will give visitors to the center a “clearer understanding” of the Church’s religious beliefs.

Noting that there are those who sometimes question whether Latter-day Saints are Christians, Elder Oaks said the presence of the reproduction of nineteenth-century Danish master Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Christus should dispel such notions.

“The scriptures proclaim and we reverently affirm that Jesus Christ is the light and life of the world,” Elder Oaks told the 250 local Church and government leaders assembled for the unveiling. “We love the Lord Jesus Christ. His is the only name by which we can be saved. Our missionaries … testify of him in many nations of the world.”

Elder Oaks told of a friend who visited him in Salt Lake City and who expressed a deeper understanding of the Church after seeing the imposing Christus statue on Temple Square.

“I hope that every person who has ever had doubts about whether we are Christians can achieve that same understanding,” he said.

The Washington Temple Visitors’ Center Christus is the seventh duplicate of the Thorvaldsen original commissioned by the Church. The others are in visitors centers adjacent to temples in Salt Lake City; Los Angeles; Mexico City; Mesa, Arizona; Hamilton, New Zealand; and Laie, Hawaii. The original stands in Copenhagen, Denmark.