This 9-foot tall cast bronze statue was created by artist Guido Galletti and placed at Dry Rocks reef within John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park near Key Largo, FL. It stands in in about 20 feet of water and is a very popular tourist attraction. The original is located in the Mediterranean Sea off San Fruttuoso between Camogli and Portofino on the Italian Riviera. Galletti made several copies of this statue which are all submerged in various places around the world. This particular one is the third in the series and was presented to the Underwater Society of America in New York in 1962. "Christ of the Abyss" was placed its current spot in 1965 with the goal of attracting enthusiasts of the then-new sport of SCUBA diving. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park had opened a mere two years earlier as the nation's first fully-underwater state park and wanted something unique. In the decades since, "The Statue", as it is known to the locals, has become one of the most dived and snorkeled locations in the world.
