STATUE OF MARY LARGER THAN STATUE OF LIBERTY

Panama to have an effigy bigger than Statue of Liberty

Panama is to build  the highest statue in the world to mark the celebrations of the discovery of the South Sea and the installation of the first Catholic diocese on the continent.
The image of Santa Maria la Antigua will be "higher than the Statue of Liberty" and represent an icon for the city, said President Ricardo Martinelli on Tuesday, August 14.
The financing of the statue, will be done  “with the help of all, with the state and private contributions." he said.
The president also  reported that construction has begun  of a new Metropolitan Cathedral which will be able to accommodate about 10,000 the the Cathedral in Casco Viejo is being restored..
Panama’s first lady, Marta Linares de Martinelli, said the statue project has been underway for a year in conjunction with representatives of the Catholic Church and a model will soon become a reality. The height of the statue, without the plinth is 34 meters.

A LOOK BACK
The first European sighting of the South Sea was  by Vasco Nunez de Balbao, when in the course of his journey across the isthmus of Panama. on September 25, 1513 he first sighted a great sea far away to the south. Two days after the sighting, he and his men reached the coast and waded into its waters, claiming possession of the sea for Spain.
Balboa met a bloody end in 1519, but news of his discovery had already spread to Europe, and revived hopes of finding a westward route to the Spice Islands in the  Indies and led to Magellan’s  setting  sail and reaching the South Sea which he renamed the Pacifico (peaceful), and his ship completing the first circumnavigation of the world.