A Denver-based cryptocurrency investor has unveiled plans to construct a 450-foot statue of the Greek god Prometheus on Alcatraz Island — a challenge that, if realized, would tower over San Francisco Bay and stand even taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Ross Calvin, founding father of the Bitcoin mining agency Parhelion, is spearheading the proposal by means of his nonprofit American Colossus Basis, which describes itself as selling “a cultural renaissance of civilizational energy by means of creativity, self-sovereignty and future-thinking.”
The plan envisions a nickel-bronze monument rising excessive sufficient for the determine’s head to almost eclipse the Golden Gate Bridge — making it San Francisco’s symbolic reply to the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
Information of Calvin’s proposal was first reported by Bloomberg Information.
The challenge, titled “The Nice Colossus of Prometheus on Alcatraz,” would price an estimated $450 million and embody a expertise museum on the island.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is the Titan who stole hearth from the gods and gave it to mankind.
Calvin has described the determine as a “titan of modern progress” and a “monument to American manifest future” that celebrates the liberating forces of expertise and entrepreneurship.
“Standing taller than the Statue of Liberty, our monument inaugurates a brand new golden age, revering creativity and the heroic nature of man,” Calvin wrote on the inspiration’s web site.
“It unapologetically symbolizes a superb, optimistic American future, calling us to visionary pondering, daring achievement, and forging this new world into a strong very best.”
To maneuver ahead, the challenge would require federal approval to reclassify Alcatraz — presently a nationwide park — as a nationwide monument.
Calvin has stated he plans to current renderings and a proper proposal to President Trump’s workforce by the tip of January.
He has stated that the concept of a Prometheus monument on Alcatraz dates again to his childhood when he first sailed previous the island and imagined “an ideal place for an emblem of triumph and wonder.”
If accomplished, the statue would stand roughly 150 toes taller than the Statue of Liberty, which measures 305 toes from pedestal to torch.
Alcatraz was as soon as America’s most notorious federal penitentiary, housing criminals like Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly earlier than it was shuttered for good in 1963.
Initially a navy fort, it later grew to become a federal jail recognized for its isolation and failed escape makes an attempt.
The infamous island has impressed a number of Hollywood blockbuster movies, together with “The Rock” with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage and the 1979 basic movie “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood.
Trump has proposed reopening and increasing Alcatraz as a high-security facility for violent offenders and folks he deems illegal entrants to the US.
The plan, estimated to price over $2 billion, has prompted engineering opinions and website visits by federal officers however faces logistical and authorized hurdles as a result of island’s protected historic standing.
Critics argue the challenge is impractical and politically motivated, although the administration continues to discover its feasibility.
