Tallest Virgin Mary statue in Europe nearing completion

At 55 metres high, the concrete and steel figure will become the second-tallest Marian statue in the world behind the 98.15-metre Mother of All Asia in the Philippines.

Construction of the statue is nearing completion, with people already flocking to the site.

The Konotopie Virgin Mary cost an estimated 100 million zlotys (€22.85 million), according to local media. That is being paid by billionaire Roman Karkosik, a 75-year-old who is regularly listed as one of Poland’s richest people.

Construction at Konotopie began in March 2025, reportedly as a religious gesture by Mr Karkosik and his wife.

“Last Sunday he visited the construction site from the backseat of his Maybach,” the security guard at the premises told AFP.

Mr Karkosik, founder and principal shareholder of industrial group Boryszew, lives nearby in the small town of Kikol, in a restored 18th-century palace across from the parish church.

Officials hope the project will boost economic development and bring financial benefits to the area. In 2024, Kikol’s municipal tax revenue per capita amounted to only 1117 zlotys (€259), according to finance ministry data, making it one of the poorest municipalities in the region.

In Poland’s 2021 census, 71 per cent of the nation’s population identified as Roman Catholic, down from 88 per cent 10 years earlier.

“We hope this place will bear the fruits of a deeper return to faith, or at least help people deepen their faith,” said the local parish priest Fr Marek Mrowczynski.

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Polish village puts faith in Europe’s tallest Mary statue (RTE/Agence France-Presse)