A sculptor claims to have the largest Christmas Nativity scene anywhere in Europe, and it is located in Greece’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki in a parking lot.

Framed by the impressive palace of King Herod and the archangel Gabriel who offers the Lily to the Virgin.

This impressive scene is filmed on December 21.

The facade of the manger is about 15 meters with a total area covering ​​about 50 square meters, while the palace of Herod is especially impressive with a height of 7 meters and a length of 25. Externally it is covered with marble, while in front there are statues of soldiers. The impressive display, the creation of Greek artist Vasilis Michailides and is located inside a parking lot in Thessaloniki, where people can visit it, of course by practicing social-distancing measures.

Artist Vasilis Michailides explains: "I decided to build a manger-theme park that is related to this beautiful love story, the love that Jesus offers to the whole world. The story of Christ's birth is represented in 4 sections. First, we have the scene of Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel; the second is in the palace of Herod who orders the Massacre of the Innocents when he learns out about the birth of Jesus. The third chapter is the manger with the birth of Christ and finally is the flight to Egypt after learning of Mary and Joseph that they will be chased by Herod."

He also explained some detail of the creation procedure: "Different materials have been used but mainly polystyrene, there is also clay and wax for the faces of the characters. It took about a year to complete all this."

A sculptor claims to have the largest Christmas Nativity scene anywhere in Europe, and it is located in Greece’s second-largest city of Thessaloniki in a parking lot.

Framed by the impressive palace of King Herod and the archangel Gabriel who offers the lily to the Virgin. The facade of the manger is about 15 meters with a total area covering ​​about 50 square meters, while the palace of Herod is especially impressive with a height of 7 meters and a length of 25. Externally it is covered with marble, while in front there are statues of soldiers. The impressive display, the creation of Greek artist Vasilis Michailides and is located inside a parking lot in Thessaloniki, where people can visit it, of course by practicing social-distancing measures.

Artist Vasilis Michailides explains (timestamp 01:53-02:37)
"I decided to build a manger-theme park that is related to this beautiful love story, the love that Jesus offers to the whole world. The story of Christ's birth is represented in 4 sections. First we have the scene of Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary by the Archangel Gabriel, the second is in the palace of Herod who orders the Massacre of the Innocents when he learns out about the birth of Jesus, third chapter is the manger with the birth of Christ and finally is the flight to Egypt after learning of Mary and Joseph that they will be chased by Herod.

He also explained some detail of the creation procedure (02:48-03:06)
"Different materials have been used but mainly polystyrene, there is also clay and wax for the faces of the characters. It took about a year to complete all this"