A screengrab circulating on Facebook in South Africa shows a massive human skeleton lying on the ground, completely dwarfing the crowd of people around it.
The text reads: “The skeleton of Goliath found in Jerusalem. The word of God is so true! Please keep sharing this to spread the gospel.”
It’s been shared more than 27,000 times.
But reverse image search reveals that the skeleton is actually the sculpture Calamita Cosmica by Italian artist Gino de Dominicis.
According to one travel blogger, the sculpture was first unveiled in 1990 at Magasin De Horizons, a contemporary art museum in Grenoble, France.
“This giant, 24 metres long skeleton is not any archaeological discovery, rather it is a piece of art created by the Italian artist Gino de Dominicis. For some strange reason the late artist decided to name it ‘Calamita Cosmica’ (meaning Cosmic Magnet),” says the blog.
Travel magazine Atlas Obscura writes that “the sculpture is 28 metres long and weighs about eight tons, or 16,000 pounds”.
In a February 2018 update, the magazine said that the statue could then be found in a museum in Foligno, in central Italy.
There are also videos of the artwork on YouTube. One video shows the assembly of the skeleton.
The caption of the video explains, in Italian, that De Dominicis’s sculpture was unveiled to the public in 1990 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Grenoble, France.
Another video of the piece was shot in Milan, Italy.
The claim that the skeleton is of the giant Goliath has also been researched by fact-checking website Snopes and found to be false. – Dancan Bwire
The text reads: “The skeleton of Goliath found in Jerusalem. The word of God is so true! Please keep sharing this to spread the gospel.”
It’s been shared more than 27,000 times.
Eight ton sculpture
But reverse image search reveals that the skeleton is actually the sculpture Calamita Cosmica by Italian artist Gino de Dominicis.
According to one travel blogger, the sculpture was first unveiled in 1990 at Magasin De Horizons, a contemporary art museum in Grenoble, France.
“This giant, 24 metres long skeleton is not any archaeological discovery, rather it is a piece of art created by the Italian artist Gino de Dominicis. For some strange reason the late artist decided to name it ‘Calamita Cosmica’ (meaning Cosmic Magnet),” says the blog.
Travel magazine Atlas Obscura writes that “the sculpture is 28 metres long and weighs about eight tons, or 16,000 pounds”.
In a February 2018 update, the magazine said that the statue could then be found in a museum in Foligno, in central Italy.
Videos of sculpture
There are also videos of the artwork on YouTube. One video shows the assembly of the skeleton.
The caption of the video explains, in Italian, that De Dominicis’s sculpture was unveiled to the public in 1990 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Grenoble, France.
Another video of the piece was shot in Milan, Italy.
The claim that the skeleton is of the giant Goliath has also been researched by fact-checking website Snopes and found to be false. – Dancan Bwire
Republish our content for free
For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false
A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?
Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.
Publishers guideAfrica Check teams up with Facebook
Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.
The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.
You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.
Add new comment