Dili Cristo Rei

About the Cristo Rei

Dili is the capital of Timor-Leste (East Timor), home to the striking Cristo Rei of Dili - a 27-meter statue of Jesus Christ standing atop a globe on Cape Fatucama. A gift from Indonesia in 1996, this majestic statue overlooks the Ombai Strait and has become an enduring symbol of the young nation's Catholic faith and resilience. Visitors climb 500 steps lined with Stations of the Cross to reach this beloved landmark.

Standing 27 metres high atop a globe at Cape Fatucama, east of the capital, the Christ the King statue was unveiled on 15 October 1996 by Indonesian President Suharto as a gift from the Indonesian government to what was then the province of Timor Timur, with Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Governor José Abílio Osório Soares present. It was designed by Mochamad Syailillah, known as Bolil, and assembled from copper sections made near Bandung. Some East Timorese resistance figures criticised it as Jakarta propaganda, and accounts differ over why the figure faces west. Since independence in 2002 it has been kept as a landmark of Dili, reached by a staircase lined with Stations of the Cross, and used for Catholic pilgrimage.