On Easter Sunday, some Tucson residents will spend time in our own re-creation of the Garden of Gethsemane on the west bank of the Santa Cruz River at Congress Street.
A visit to the garden also provides an opportunity to reflect on Felix Lucero, a sculptor whose spiritualism nurtured his life in a way that materialism could not. As he lay critically wounded on a battlefield in France during World War I, Lucero vowed that if he survived he would dedicate 20 years of his life to God.

He spent 19 years after the war wandering the country sculpting religious statues. In 1938, the last year of his pledge, he came to Tucson. He lived in a shack under the bridge that spans the Santa Cruz River and went to work on a masonry recreation of The Last Supper and the Crucifixion on the south side of Congress Street.

Soon after the sculptures were done, on April 15, 1938, a flash flood raged through the dry channel of the Santa Cruz, washing the whole project away. Eight years later, he started work on the Garden of Gethsemane scene that exists today on the north side of Congress.
During the Easter season, many visit the site, an appropriate place for prayer or meditation.

source : www.azstarnet.com