Europe’s biggest Virgin Mary statue – taller than Rio’s Christ the Redeemer – unveiled in Polish village
The monument, which towers over the rural landscape at 55.6 metres tall, was funded by a wealthy local couple.
Europe's largest Virgin Mary statue, standing at 55.6 meters tall, has been officially inaugurated in the small Polish village of Konotopie. Towering over the rural landscape, the monument surpasses the height of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue, making it the tallest religious statue of any kind in Europe.
The impressive structure, which also holds the title of the tallest statue of the Virgin Mary in Europe, was unveiled on August 15th, coinciding with the celebration of Mary's Assumption into heaven. Konotopie, a village with just around 130 inhabitants, is located in the diocese of Włocławek. The consecration ceremony was presided over by Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski.
The local community, hoping the statue will attract a large number of pilgrims, anticipates the statue to become a significant pilgrimage site. Among the attendees at the ceremony were former Polish President and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Wałęsa, who expressed his faith in a social media post featuring photos of himself at the statue.
The 60,000-ton concrete statue, weighing around that amount, took 18 months to construct and cost approximately 100 million zloty (€23.2 million). The costs were covered by Roman and Grażyna Karkosik, a wealthy local couple who remain largely private and rarely speak about the project. They live in a restored 18th-century palace nearby, from which they can observe the new landmark.
The statue of Mary in Konotopie now surpasses the tallest statue in Europe, previously held by the Mary statue in Miribel, France. However, the European record for the tallest statue remains in Asia, held by the 98-meter-high Mother of Peace in Batangas City, Philippines. Poland had previously held the title of the world's tallest Jesus statue, the 33-meter-high Jesus Christ the King of the Universe in Świebodzin, until 2024 when Indonesia built a 61-meter-tall Jesus statue.
The design for the Konotopie statue of Mary originated as a 2-meter-high model by sculptor Adam Jakub Matejkowski, who informed the Polish edition of Forbes that the Karkosiks had specifically requested the statue to be larger than the one in Świebodzin. The chief engineer, Bartłomiej Niesłuchowski, explained that finding a company capable of producing the specialized mold was a challenge because no local suppliers could provide the necessary material. The mold had to be manufactured in Italy.
The monument is open to the public, including an observation deck located 15 meters above the pedestal on which Mary stands. The site is expected to become a popular pilgrimage destination, with local authorities preparing for an influx of visitors, as reported by the mayor of the nearby town of Kikoł, Renata Gołębiewska.
Written by urgent.news from Notes from Poland's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
