In the Polish village of Konotopa, near Toruń, the construction has begun of a Virgin Mary statue that will measure more than 55 meters in height, making it taller when finished than the Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio de Janeiro.
Konotopie is a small village located between Lipno and Toruń, in the municipality of Kikół. It is here that the construction of the largest statue of Mary in Poland has begun.
The structure will be 55.6 metres high. However, the statue of the Virgin Mary itself will be more than 40 metres tall, and the 15-metre-high pedestal in the form of a crown will become an observation deck.
This means that the statue will surpass the world-famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, which with its plinth is only 38.5 metres high. Unfortunately, it does not win in the category of the tallest statue of Mary in the world, as one is located in the Philippines and is almost 100 metres high.
Information about the start of the construction was given to Euronews by the mayor of Kikol Renata Golębiewska, who revealed some previously unknown details.
“Demolition work is currently underway on the plot of land where the investment is to be built,” said Golebiewska, “We didn’t think it would become such a sensation in Poland and abroad.”
The monumental project was conceived and financed by a pair of Poland’s richest people, the billionaire Roman Karkosik and his wife Grażyna. The municipality has known about the construction plans since 2023.
The location of the statue is not accidental – it is being erected in the vicinity of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Sorrows in Konotop, which is famous for its miraculous statue of Mary. This place has been attracting pilgrims from all over Poland for years.
Local authorities hope that the investment will provide a vital boost to Konotop visitor numbers and make the region famous throughout the world. The monument will be a place of prayer, but also an important venue for cultural events.
“We hope that tourists and pilgrims will come to us and see what a beautiful municipality we have by the way,” stressed Golębiewska.
Construction work is expected to be completed by mid-2026.
Visions of Mary
Visualisations of the monument to Our Lady in Konotop have appeared online. The photos are courtesy of the Wirtualny Toruń website and the Parish of St Adalbert, the Bishop and Martyr in Kikol.
Poland’s biggest religious monuments
The statue of Our Lady under construction in Konotopia is not the only one of its kind in Poland.
In the town of Świebodzin in western Poland, there is a monument to Christ the King. The structure is 52.5 metres high including the mound on which it is situated. In 2010, at the time of completion, it was the tallest monument of Christ in the world.
In Częstochowa, home to the famous shrine of Our Lady of Częstochowa and the miraculous image of the Black Madonna, there is a 14-metre-high statue of Saint John Paul II. The statue was unveiled in April 2023 and is the world’s largest statue of a Polish Pope.
Elsewhere in Zakopane, on top of Giewont – which is 1,894 metres above sea level – a metal cross visible from afar has stood for over a century. It was set up on 19 August 1901 to commemorate the 1900th anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ.
The cross is 17.5 m high, of which 2.5 m are embedded in the rocks, while the cross arm is 5.5 m long. It consists of 400 iron elements with a total weight of about 1,900 kilograms.
At the intersection of the cross arms is the inscription: “Jesu Christo Deo, restitutæ per ipsum salutis MCM” – “To Jesus Christ, God, on the 1900th anniversary of His restoration of salvation”.
