Madrid Spain The Tallest Stone Cross at Valle de los Caidos the valley of the F allen The tallest

stone cross in the world the great cross at Valle de los Cados near M adrid Spain soaring to a height of 150 Mts. Ca. 500 ft. has been probably inspir ed by the open air or outdoor crosses of the Kerala churches termed Nazraney Sth ambams, the pedestals of which are balikkallus or sacrificial altars or stones. It is not clear to this writer whether the great cross exactly above the altar of the Basilica containing the tomb of Spain's civil war victor Francisco Franco - act ually bigger than the St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican (Rome)- is fixed using the socket and cylinder method as used in the rock crosses of Kerala India. The Indian rock crosses -probably there were a hundred before the beginning of the 20th Century - have a four piece construction , with a flower stone or lotus sto ne at the top of the pedestal which receives the cylinder at the bottom of the shaft, and the cylinder at the top of the shaft is fitted to the socket at the b ottom of the "ARMS" piece of the cross which in turn receives into the socket at its top the 'CAPITAL' of the cross which again has a cylinder shaped at its bot tom end. The main cross has thus four members and requires no mortar or cement t o hold the whole in place and have been standing for many centuries. For photos cf.www.indianchristianity.com This writer shall be much obliged if details of th e cross's architecture and construction and design are made available to him at kunjethy@gmail.com or kunjethy@yahoo.com -Prof. George Menachery