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Christ of the Abyss ( Italian : "Il Cristo degli Abissi") is one of the most famous underwater statues , representing Jesus . The statue was placed in the place where Darius Gonzatti , a friend of Jacques-Yves Cousteau , the first Italian diver to use an autonomous underwater breathing device, died during a dive in 1947 .
The bronze statue was made by the artist Guido Galleti in 1954 according to an idea by the Italian Duilio Marcante , he is 2.5 m tall, weighs 260 kg and embodies Jesus, with outstretched arms facing the surface of the water.
Il Cristo degli Abissi is located in the Mediterranean Sea , at a depth of 24 meters, near Portofino , Liguria .
There is a life-size copy of the statue inside the San Fruttuoso Abbey , near Portofino.
Every year, on the last Sunday in July, a ceremony is held in memory of all those who lost their lives in the water. The religious ceremony is held on the shore at night, and the divers descend into the sea to Christ and put a laurel wreath on His head.
Other underwater statues depicting Christ have been off the island of Grenada in the Caribbean since 1961 and Key Largo , Florida , since 1965.
