A 55.6-metre concrete statue of the Virgin Mary, believed to be the tallest of its kind in Europe, was formally consecrated on Saturday in Konotopie, a village of fewer than 150 people in central Poland. The ceremony, held to coincide with the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, drew hundreds of worshippers who watched as priests celebrated mass, the Mazowsze folk ensemble performed traditional Polish music, and two helicopters scattered miniature rose petals over the crowd.

The monument surpasses several well-known religious landmarks in scale. At 55.6 metres — including a crown-shaped 15-metre pedestal — it stands taller than Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer, which measures 38 metres with its pedestal, and edges out Poland's own Christ the King statue in the western town of Świebodzin, which reaches 52.5 metres including its mound. A statue of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines, at 98 metres, remains the world's tallest of its kind, but the new Polish monument is considered the largest in Europe. The statue's interior pedestal houses a viewing platform open to visitors.

The project was commissioned by Roman Karkosik, one of Poland's wealthiest businessmen — whose fortune grew from plastic bottle manufacturing in the 1990s to major investments on the Warsaw stock exchange — and his wife, Grażyna, who live in a small palace a few miles from Konotopie. The couple have described the monument as an expression of gratitude to God.