what is the big cross in effingham illinois
Effingham, Illinois A 198-foot (60 m) steel cross erected by The Cross Foundation is located in Effingham. The Cross is made out of over 180 tons of steel and cost over $1 million.[21] The Cross Foundation claims that the cross is the "largest" in the United States standing at 198-foot (60 m) with a span of 113-foot (34 m).[22] While the 208-foot (63 m) Great Cross in St. Augustine, Florida is believed to be the tallest freestanding cross in the western hemisphere, it is thinner than the cross in Effingham and has a narrow span.[22][23]
Christian cross The cross-shaped sign, represented in its simplest form by a crossing of two lines at right angles, greatly predates the introduction of Christianity, in both East and West. It goes back to a very remote period of human civilization. It is supposed to have been used not just for its ornamental value, but also with religious significance.[2] It may have represented the apparatus used in kindling fire, and thus as the symbol of sacred fire or as a symbol of the sun, denoting its daily rotation. It has also been interpreted as the mystic representation of lightning or of the god of the tempest, or the emblem of the Aryan pantheon and the primitive Aryan civilization.[2]