Permit Denied

Permit Denied

The Park service denies permit for 45-foot-tall nude woman statue on National Mall - WTOP/DC

The National Park Service has rejected a group's plans to install a 45-foot-tall sculpture of a nude woman on the National Mall.

In a statement issued Thursday morning, the park service said it denied organizers of next month's "Catharsis on the Mall" event permission to install the statue because it would likely damage the Mall's turf and soil.

In addition, the statue's height "introduces a visual element that would diminish the property's significant historic features by altering the setting and historic character of the National Mall landscape," National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst said in the statement.

The park service said it approved other elements of the organizers' plans including the placement of more than 30 temporary structures for the event.

The event, which organizers described as a Burning-Man-inspired celebration of artists and activists, runs Nov. 9-12. In an update its fundraising page, the group organizing the event, said the park service issued temporary approval for the entire project - including the statue - last month but that organizers received a letter Wednesday retracting it.

- Father God, we praise You that the National Park Service has demonstrated such wisdom and discretion in refusing to grant this permit. Praise God! But we note that many other, smaller "devices" will be in place on the mall on the dates requested on their permit: November 10 - 12. Father, we will not name them here, for You know it all. We pray and agree that the "noise" to be released from those displays will be bound, in Your Holy name, amen.

- "I will set no worthless thing before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not fasten its grip on me." (Psalm 101:3)

"Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 18:18)