Device to Root Out Evil by Dennis Oppenheim is on display in the Calgary community of Ramsay. (Edward Smith/Glenbow Museum)

A controversial sculpture rejected by the City of Vancouver has a new home in a Calgary inner-city community that's in the process of being transformed from an industrial site into a mixed-use neighbourhood.

Device to Root Out Evil, a work in steel, aluminum and glass by New York artist Dennis Oppenheim, looks like an upside-down New England church with its steeple planted in the ground.

The six-metre-high sculpture arrived in Calgary's Ramsay community on a flatbed truck Friday morning. Two hours later, it was unveiled on the site of the Ramsay Exchange development.

It is on a five-year loan to the Glenbow Museum and the TORODE Group of Companies, the Calgary real estate developer behind the Ramsay Exchange, from its owner, John Bromley, of Vancouver-based Benefic Group.

First showcased in 1997 at the Venice Biennale, Device to Root Out Evil arrived in Vancouver in 2005 as part of the Sculpture Biennale, in which sculptures were displayed in public places throughout the city.

Vancouver residents were divided on the work displayed near Coal Harbour. Some objected to its message, which was interpreted to be about the futility of religion's attempts to root out evil. Some thought it blocked the view. Others loved it.

Vancouver's Public Parks Committee eventually voted to turf it out.

But John Torode, president of TORODE, says the work, with an estimated value of $300,000, is perfect for the Ramsay community, where many artists live and work.

"This city is lucky to have visionaries like [Glenbow president and CEO] Jeff Spalding and Glenbow who recognize that Calgarians not only can handle critical conversation and debate but welcome it," he said at the Calgary unveiling.

"They believe in elevating Calgary to a sophisticated, progressive city with a world-class cultural landscape."