Europe's tallest Virgin Mary statue inaugurated in Polish village of Konotopie

Europe's tallest Mary statue inaugurated in Polish village

A monumental statue of the Virgin Mary, standing 55.6 metres tall, was inaugurated on Saturday, 15 August 2026, in the village of Konotopie in central-northern Poland. The ceremony, held on the Catholic feast of the Assumption, drew thousands of pilgrims and curious visitors to a settlement of about 120 to 150 inhabitants situated between 160 and 200 kilometres northwest of Warsaw. Although final construction works were still under way and the site remained guarded and fenced, visitors had been arriving for weeks. The total height comprises a 40.6-metre white statue mounted on a 15-metre crown-shaped pedestal that will also serve as a viewing platform.

The monument surpasses both the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, which measures 38 metres including its pedestal, and Poland's own Christ the King statue in Swiebodzin, unveiled in 2010, which rises 52 metres above the ground with its mound. A taller Virgin Mary statue exists in the Philippines, the 98-metre Montemaria, but the Konotopie figure is believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe.

Financier and motivation

The statue was commissioned by Roman and Grażyna Karkosik, a couple who live in an 18th-century castle in Kikol, two kilometres from Konotopie. Roman Karkosik, 75, is one of Poland's wealthiest individuals, with an estimated fortune of 1.9 billion zloty (approximately 442 million euros), ranking 44th on the Wprost magazine rich list. He began his career nearly four decades ago as a bartender, then traded scrap iron, produced soft drinks, and became Poland's first plastic-bottle manufacturer before building his reputation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, where some journalists compare his role to Warren Buffett's on Wall Street.

The construction followed an illness that Roman Karkosik suffered, from which he reportedly recovered. He told the Financial Times he had the statue built "out of gratitude towards Mary." The Polish trade portal Architektura Murator estimates construction costs at 23 million euros.

Divided reactions

Local authorities hope the monument will become both a pilgrimage site and a tourist destination, and residents of Konotopie look forward to an influx of visitors. Public opinion in Poland is deeply divided, however. The weekly Newsweek quoted one critic calling the project "a nightmare, a big zero" and "a huge mountain of concrete" that should have been replaced with useful investments. The conservative magazine Sieci quoted a believing visitor who called the statue "wonderful" and "a fantastic achievement."

The Dominican friar Paweł Gużyński described the statue as a "King Kong on a field" in an interview with Radio Z.

The whole undertaking is a form of dancing around the golden calf.

He was alluding to the biblical story of idol worship.

Religion in Polish public life

The vast majority of Poles identify as Catholic, and the church played a powerful role in public life after the fall of communism in 1989, benefiting from the prestige it earned through its support for the anti-communist opposition. Poland is the homeland of St John Paul II, who reigned as pope from 1978 until his death in 2005; a statue of him, much smaller than the Mary monument, was unveiled in Czestochowa over a decade ago. The influence of religion in public life has gradually declined in recent years, particularly among younger people and in urban areas, though the Catholic church remains influential in rural communities and among older generations.