The tallest Madonna in Europe stands out in a tiny village: the newly inaugurated statue surpasses the Christ of Rio

Two helicopters flew over the crowd, dropping red rose petals. Below, with her arms open and her head several floors higher, there was a Madonna which with its base reaches 55.6 metres. On 15 August 2026, in the small village of Konotopie, Poland, the monument dedicated to Our Lady of Mercy was inaugurated and blessed, presented by the Diocese of Włocławek as the tallest Marian statue in Europe. The celebration was attended by around two thousand faithful, dozens of priests and the former Polish president Lech Wałęsa.

However, the 55.6 meter figure requires a small disassembly operation. The actual figure is about 40 meters tall; below there is a base of about 15 metres, made in the shape of a crown and also intended to house a panoramic point. All together it surpasses the Christ the Redeemer of Rio de Janeiro and even another Polish religious giant, the Christ King of the Universe of Świebodzin. In short, even in sacred monumentality the ranking is played on the base.

Taller than the Cristo di Rio, including bases

The comparison with Rio is quite clear. The Brazilian Ministry of Tourism indicates an overall height of 38 meters for Christ the Redeemer: 30 for the statue and eight for the pedestal. The Konotopie monument therefore surpasses it by more than 17 meters considering both structures complete.

Even the Christ the King in Świebodzin, inaugurated in 2010, remains just below. According to the Municipality of Świebodzin, the figure with the crown reaches 36 meters and rests on an artificial hill of 16.5 meters: 52.5 meters in total. Konotopie adds another three generous ones.

The Madonna was designed by the Polish sculptor Adam Jakub Matejkowski. The work was privately financed by entrepreneurs Grażyna and Roman Karkosik as a vote of thanks. Not far away there is already a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows, frequented for years by pilgrims in the area. The new monument changes the scale quite a bit: from a local place of worship to a silhouette that imposes itself on the landscape and which can hardly be missed while passing along the DK10 national road.

The small village prepares for pilgrims, even with a traffic light

It was clear even before the inauguration that the work was destined to attract more than the faithful of the area. In October 2025, the Kikół City Council, the municipality of which Konotopie is part, explicitly mentioned the future statue in a resolution dedicated to road safety. The authorities expected a sharp increase in tourists and pilgrims and, consequently, in pedestrian and cycle traffic along the DK10.

Hence the project for a cycle/pedestrian path and a new regulation of the crossing with traffic lights. A religious statue measuring over 55 meters, therefore, manages the rather concrete feat of also entering into traffic planning. The Municipality evidently hopes that Konotopie will become a new stop in Polish religious tourism; the panoramic terrace created in the base also widens the audience to those who come more to look at the landscape than to pray.

The diocese has already established visiting hours: from April to September the monument will be accessible every day from 8am to 8pm; in the colder months the hours will be reduced. On August 15, the blessing of Bishop Krzysztof Wętkowski was followed by a concert by the famous folk ensemble Mazowsze.

Until yesterday, Konotopie was a tiny dot on the map of central-northern Poland. Now, passing on the DK10, you have to work hard not to notice it. Forty meters of a sculpture depicting the Madonna above fifteen meters of crown have this effect.