The Christ of the Ozarks is a statue of Jesus atop Magnetic Mountain, near Eureka Springs, Arkansas. It was finished in 1966 and stands 66 feet (20 meters) high, with arms outstretched 65 feet (20 meters) from fingertip to fingertip. It is built by hand from steel and mortar and sits on 320 tons of concrete. It was designed to withstand winds of 500 miles per hour.
Emmet Sullivan, who had worked on Dinosaur World and assisted at Mount Rushmore, was primarily responsible. The style is modernistic and minimalist, with simplified forms and little facial detail. Critics have nicknamed it Gumby Jesus.
Gerald L. K. Smith erected it as a Sacred Project. He retired to Eureka Springs and planned a religious theme park. The Great Passion Play is performed nearby, in a 4,100-seat amphitheater he completed, three nights a week from late May through October.
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