WATERBURY, Conn. (AP) – The landmark crucifix overlooking Waterbury, damaged by 50-years of exposure to the elements and recent vandalism, will be replaced, the Roman Catholic nuns who oversee the site said.

The 50-foot tall cross on Pine Hill was erected in 1958 by a Catholic group led by John Greco to mark the site of Holy Land USA, Greco’s religious theme park that featured replicas of Bethlehem and Jerusalem made from scrap wood, chicken wire, sheet-metal and other materials.

The park attracted thousands of visitors in the late 1960s and 1970s, but eventually fell into disrepair and was closed in 1984.

The Religious Teachers Filippini, an order of nuns who reside near Holy Land, have been taking care of the cross and are raising money to defray what is expected to be a $250,000 renovation.

The cross is made of steel beams covered with glass and Plexiglas panels. Fluorescent lights shine behind the panels, illuminating it at night.

But some of the panels and interior lights have been smashed, and its center no longer lights. Graffiti is scrawled near the bottom. The stone and concrete slab on which it stands is deteriorating and there is concern the bolts holding the cross in the slab could fail.

“It’s in an unsafe condition,” said Clifford Lennox, a project manager with O,R&L Construction, the company handling the renovation project. “Either it has to come down com-letely and not be replaced or it’s going to be replaced.”

Demolition should begin in February, Lennox told the Republican-American of Waterbury.

Plans call for a replacement with the same dimensions, a 50-foot vertical beam and a 25-foot horizontal beam, to be erected in March. Lennox said he still needs permits from the city.

The new cross would be made of tube steel, and would be illuminated with small lights on the exterior or floodlights from below.

City Historian Philip Benevento describes the cross as one of Waterbury’s two most important landmarks, along with the clock tower on the Republican-American building on Meadow Street.

“It’s a symbol of Waterbury because it stands out at night,” Benevento told the newspaper. “Waterbury tends to be filled with people who are religious and who enjoy the cross as a religious symbol.”

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Information from: Republican-American, http://www.rep-am.com

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