Project Description

An enormous statue of the Virgin Mary has been inaugurated in a small Polish village, in the presence of veteran anti-communist leader Lech Walesa.

Hundreds of people took part in the consecration of the monument, which towers 182ft over Konotopie in central Poland. While helicopters scattered miniature red roses over the crowd, priests in white robes celebrated mass and the popular Mazowsze folk ensemble sang and danced to traditional Polish music.

The statue is taller — if less dramatically located — than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which measures 125ft including its pedestal. There is a taller statue of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines, which measures 322ft, but the new one in Poland is believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe.

The vast majority of Poles identify as Catholic, and the Catholic church played a powerful role in public life after the fall of communism in 1989, benefitting from the prestige it earned through its support for the anti-communist opposition. The country was the homeland of John Paul II, who was pope from 1978 until his death in 2005. A huge statue of him — much smaller than the one of Mary — was unveiled over a decade ago in the city of Czestochowa.

Local authorities hope the monument – which features a viewing platform built inside the pedestal – will become a major pilgrimage site and a tourist destination.