Sanctuary of Christ King, Portugal

Marco Augusto Dueñas carved the four Evangelists in Carrara marble that surround the pedestal of the Christ the King monument in Almada, across the Tagus from Lisbon. The National Sanctuary of Christ the King stands at Pragal, on the south bank of the estuary, and ranks among the most visited sanctuaries in Portugal; it has belonged to the Diocese of Setúbal since 1999. The monument itself, the work of sculptor Francisco Franco de Sousa, raises a 28-metre figure of Christ on a portico some 80 metres high.

For this ensemble, the Spanish sculptor was commissioned to create the four Evangelists — Saint Matthew, Saint Luke, Saint Mark and Saint John — executed between 2018 and 2023. Each figure, three metres tall and cut from white Carrara marble, flanks one of the four porticoes that open around the pedestal, so that the Evangelists receive visitors on every side of the monument’s base.