Elaborate Nativity scene on display at Edina church spans 300+ square feet
EDINA, Minn. — Hundreds of figurines are displayed in a Nativity diorama that's more than 300 square feet —it's what you'll find at the Church of St. Patrick in Edina.
"There's a guy walking his dog. There's a woman holding some grapes. There's a woman pouring some wine," Don Keller said.
Keller could be talking about any hustling and bustling city. But this is Bethlehem at the time of Christ's birth.
The figurines belong to Father Allen Kuss, who began collecting them nearly 45 years ago, while he was in Rome.
"He said I'm looking for a way to display them. Do you have any ideas," Keller said.
Last year, Kuss recruited Keller to help him make a giant Nativity scene because he thought he had an eye for this type of thing, based on his career.
"I specialized in illustrating surgery of the human eyeball for 38 years," Keller said.
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The two men went to work in the church basement, laboring day and night. Finally, last week, they hauled the expansive diorama upstairs and put it on display.
"One year, five months, three weeks, four days and two hours," Keller said.
That's how long it took to build it. They got help from volunteers and they had to get creative. For example, the temple is made out of a beer cooler.
Herod's palace is made out of a Cheez-It box. Lorna Nelson was in charge of the shrubbery and she used perennials.
"I started pinching them off thinking these might be a good thing to use," said Nelson.
The end result has already turned heads.
"We had people from Mankato, Owatonna, Rochester," said Tom Gabrik, volunteer.
There are 400 figurines on display here, but Kuss has 700 of them. Which means this massive diorama could be even bigger in the future.
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No room in the inn, but plenty in the diorama. And the figurines shown here are part of a bigger message.
"They were oblivious to the birth of Christ. So his analogy is this, is that the way we are today," Keller said.
In addition to Kuss and Keller, about 50 people helped with the diorama.
It's on display on Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. at the Church of St. Patrick in Edina.