Salvation Mountain - Niland, CA
Posted by: 
saopaulo1
N 33° 15.245 W 115° 28.380
11S E 642242 N 3680494
A colorful mountain in Niland, CA.
Waymark Code: WM11CXD
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 09/29/2019
Views: 0
"Salvation Mountain is a hillside visionary environment created by local resident Leonard Knight (1931–2014) in the California Desert area of Imperial County, north of Calipatria, northeast of Niland near Slab City, and several miles from the Salton Sea.
The artwork is made of adobe, straw, and thousands of gallons of lead-free paint.[1] It encompasses numerous murals and areas painted with Christian sayings and Bible verses, though its philosophy was built around the Sinner's Prayer.
The Folk Art Society of America declared it "a folk art site worthy of preservation and protection"[3] in the year 2000. In an address to the United States Congress on May 15, 2002, California Senator Barbara Boxer described it as "a unique and visionary sculpture... a national treasure... profoundly strange and beautifully accessible, and worthy of the international acclaim it receives".
In December 2011, the 80-year-old Knight was placed in a long-term care facility in El Cajon for dementia. Leonard Knight died on February 10, 2014, in El Cajon.
Concern has been raised for the future of the site, which requires constant maintenance due to the harsh surrounding environment. Many visitors bring paint to donate to the project, and a group of volunteers has been working to protect and maintain the site. In 2012, a public charity, Salvation Mountain, Inc., was established to support the project." (
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