Christmas 2024: Discover what would be the largest nativity scene in the world

During these days, the faithful who come to the Sanctuary of San José in Venice (Colombia) can appreciate and pray in front of what would be the largest traditional manger in the world, whose construction takes more than a month and is made up of nearly three thousand figures.

The idea of ​​creating a nativity scene of these dimensions was born nearly 20 years ago by the architect Luis Fernando Betancur. Currently the manger covers 322 square meters, whose 2,000 light bulbs are powered by 2 kilometers of electric cable.

Likewise, it has 2,950 inhabitants – including dolls made of wood, fabric and plasticine -, 400 wooden buildings, a mountain range of 60 linear meters, a river 25 meters long and 200 mechanical and water movements.

Being a traditional birth, within it you can see scenes of daily life, but also biblical stories, such as the construction of the Tower of Babel.

In conversation with ACI Prensa, Betancur indicated that assembling the manger “takes a month and a half and its manufacturing takes all year.” In each edition a special reason is added, in this case it was also decided to pay tribute to the victims of the avalanche in June that left Venice in mourning.

Regarding how this tradition was conceived, the architect related that in the 1980s, when he was a teenager, he proposed to the priest at that time “to put together a manger, which was made of straw cardboard, but which was destroyed after an event in his “warehouse.” “Later, about 10 years later I returned to the idea and now made it in wood, starting its exhibition approximately in 2004 until today,” he said.

Regarding the adjective that his work receives, of being the “largest traditional nativity scene in the world,” Betancur explained that this “has been given to him by the spoken and written press for some years.”

This is because when the Guinness Records academy was consulted, they were told that “record titles are not created to adapt to an individual proposal, but rather as a result of competition in a particular field. As we have not been able to establish any particular jurisdiction in this case, we are not currently considering a registration title that fits your proposal.”

“According to the above,” Betancur added, “this adjective is a ‘vox populi’ that we aspire to make official in the near future.”

“I make this manger with all love”

Regarding the effect that the nativity scene has on the faithful, Luis Fernando Betancur stated that he feels “great joy” when seeing “the smiles and faces of surprise and admiration” drawn on their faces, as well as “listening to the comments and learning about the emotion it generates.”

In that sense, he expressed that the birth “I do it with all my heart and with all love, and it is my work that as a Catholic I give every year to the people of Venice, to all the visitors and especially to the sanctuary itself.”

“Someone told me that when you kneel to put together the manger you are praying and told me that in that case I prayed all year round… I liked this and I have concluded that it is completely true,” he shared with ACI Prensa.

Thus, he invited the faithful to embark on the adventure “of exploring their gifts and, with an unbreakable will, to dedicate their lives to making it a reality, as I have done with this work, which never ceases to surprise with its great size and uniqueness and that I do alone with no help other than my devotion, my imagination and my perseverance.”