60 Ft. Jesus Resurrected: A Glimpse of Tierra Santa Theme Park in Buenos Aires

His gigantic head was the first glimpse I caught. Then, out of the plastic mountain, came His outstretched arms and 60 foot tall body. Once Jesus was about halfway out BAM! the Hallelujah Chorus blasted from the surrounding speakers. Oddly enough, the whole experience seemed vaguely sacrilegious to me.

But I’m skipping ahead. The Resurrection comes after the birth and death of Christ. Let’s start at the beginning.

A flock of angels greeted me as I entered Tierra Santa, billed as the world’s first religious theme park.

Then we bought tickets and were ushered into a skit portraying the birth of Christ. Only it wasn’t a skit so much a light show with robotic biblical characters, performed to music. The perfect introduction to a day that would only get more bizarre. Note the bat-like angels floating overhead.

After the light-show-skit ended, we were released into Tierra Santa, free to roam about the life of Jesus, as portrayed by life-size statues. First stop: Adam and Eve. I guess they didn’t want Jesus to get all of the biblical attention.

And where would a religious theme park be without Moses liberating Egypt?

Or muscular camel guy?

And, of course, no religious theme park would be complete without gluttons and prostitutes.

Or beggars.

Or this malicious guy torturing this other guy by… extracting a tooth? Stabbing him in a neck? The world will never known.

But back to Jesus. As a youngster, he traveled with his parents.

As he got older, he was a bit of a hippie — he cruised around town on his donkey, making a peace sign.

Then he turned water to wine and multiplied loaves of bread. I guess the food was so realistic-looking that people were tempted to touch it, so the theme park authorities added a “don’t touch” sign to ward off offenders.

And he helped lepers (that’s Jesus in the back crouching).

Then came the bad times. Jesus was whipped.

And forced to carry a giant cross (but this lady helped him).

Finally, he died. We took a break at this point to watch (real) women dance in “period” costume as some dudes played the drums.

Then we bought a snack from a food vendor, also in costume (and also a real person).

Having had our fill of schwarma, we returned to the Bible and Jesus’ life. We were at the Resurrection — the clincher of any trip to Tierra Santa. Technical difficulties prevented me from capturing the resurrection of a 60 foot tall Jesus on camera, but dozens of YouTube users have me covered. I highly recommend the video below. Watch for Jesus’ 30+ mechanical movements and make sure you have your sound turned on!

Overall, Tierra Santa in Buenos Aires, Argentina was a bizarre experience. There were elderly people and families there who were obviously having religious experiences. Then there were teenagers giggling as they posed with a statue of Jesus enduring a crown of thorns.

I’m still not quite sure what to make of this supposed “holy land,” but it was worth the trip for me. Where else can you pose with a life-size statue of a prostitute, dine on falafel, watch a dance show, and see a gigantic Jesus rise out of a mountain to the soundtrack of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus?

Recommended Reading:

1. New Plan: El Chalten then Buenos Aires
2. Buenos Aires Dog Walkers in Photos
3. Recoleta Cemetery in Photos: Buenos Aires, Argentina
4. Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve: A Respite from the City
5. Colectivo 86: Insight into Buenos Aires Culture