Photographs By John Murray
Industrial Riggers of Waterbury removed the cross at Holy Land this morning to make way for a new and bigger cross that Giuseppe Pisani of Pisani Steel hopes to have installed before Christmas. That’s a steeple of St Anne’s Church on the right.
Giuseppe Pisani signals to a crew from Industrial Riggers as the cross is lowered to the ground.
The cross that was removed today is the second one that stood atop of Holy Land. It replaced the original nearly a decade ago, and has been the focus of widespread disappointment in Waterbury for its lack of presence (oomph) on the horizon. The cross was 50 feet high and two feet wide. The new one will be 55 feet high and six feet wide and weigh 22 tons.
Some Waterbury residents are already responding to the cross less hill via Facebook. Kim Sokoloski wrote, “I’m so excited for the new one, but It’s going to be so weird not seeing a cross up there for the next month and a half.”
Maria Guzman-Hulse wrote, “So sad to see it go down, even if it’s for a month. When I leave town and come back to Waterbury the cross is what reminds me I’m home.”
Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary, right, has been one of the driving forces behind the restoration effort of Holy Land. O’Leary, along with Fritz Blasius of Blasius Chevrolet in Waterbury, approached a sect of nuns that owned the property and privately purchased it from them earlier this month. Giuseppe Pisani, left, is donating the new cross from his company, Pisani Steel, and is overseeing the cross installation.