Our Lady Queen of Peace statue (New Castle)

New Castle, Delaware, United States

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Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

The parish website describes a 33-foot stainless steel statue of the Virgin Mary by sculptor Charles C. Parks beside Holy Spirit Church in New Castle, Delaware, visible from the Delaware Memorial Bridge and Interstate 295. Bishop Michael Saltarelli dedicated it on 26 May 2007.

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Our Lady Queen of Peace statue (New Castle)

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Site-level location · 39.6978° N, 75.5562° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Delaware’s Charles C. Parks Madonna grew out of two earlier Parks statues that were displayed in Wilmington and then taken elsewhere. The parish website describes a 33-foot stainless steel statue of the Virgin Mary beside Holy Spirit Church in New Castle, which it says can be seen by anyone crossing the Delaware Memorial Bridge or driving Interstate 295.

The parish says Parks’ studio was in Wilmington. In 1982 his statue of Our Lady of Peace, commissioned for a parish in Santa Clara, California, was displayed in Rodney Square before going west. In 1998 a man from Chicago commissioned another, shown on Wilmington’s Riverfront before it reached its permanent site. According to the parish, thousands came to see them, and the wish for a “Mary of our own” in Delaware grew from that.

A committee met in the autumn of 1999 and followed the Santa Clara example, using “Rosary Checks” to record rosaries prayed for the project. The target was 500,000 before any fundraising began, and the parish says the total passed it. The statue cost $450,000, with a further $50,000 to change the face, which was fashioned after Our Lady of Medjugorje. Bishop Saltarelli of the Diocese of Wilmington gave his blessing in May 2000 and donated the proceeds of his recorded rosary to the fund.

He dedicated the shrine on Saturday 26 May 2007. The National Catholic Register reported in 2019 that nearly 1,000 people attended.

The statue stands at a working church, so be considerate during services. The parish lists Mass times on its website.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

The statue stands beside Holy Spirit Church, 12 Winder Road, New Castle. The parish lists the Queen of Peace Shrine on its website. It is an active place of worship, so keep noise down around services.

ACCESS

Beside Holy Spirit Church, 12 Winder Road, New Castle, DE 19720, part of an active Catholic parish. The parish says the statue is visible from the Delaware Memorial Bridge and I-295.

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The Crying Giant (Delaware Art Museum)

Wilmington, Delaware

Crying Giant is a 2002 bronze by Tom Otterness, one of an edition of three that the Delaware Art Museum says were made in response to the events of September 11, 2001. It is on view in the museum's Copeland Sculpture Garden, Wilmington.

Public art

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7.6 km away

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