A 30-foot, 20-tonne statue with a 28-foot arm span took shape on the grounds of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness on Marine Drive in August 1985.
Designed and built by University of Wisconsin professor Gopal Goswami, the $40,000, hollow, steel-reinforced concrete representation of Lord Chaitanaya (an incarnation of the Hindu deity Krishna) was unveiled on Aug. 18 and was the largest free-standing statue in Canada at the time.
Shortly after its completion, vandals injured the figure's foot.
When they found they couldn’t do much damage to the steel-reinforced concrete, however, they apparently took out their ire on some nearby shrubbery, wreaking about $2,500 in damage to the statue and surrounding plants.
