Europe's tallest Virgin Mary statue rises in Polish village

A 55-metre statue of the Virgin Mary now towers over the Polish village of Konotopie, the tallest Marian monument in Europe and second in the world after the Mother of All Asia effigy in the Philippines.

The concrete and steel figure will be blessed on 15 August, the Catholic feast of the Assumption, though the site remains unfinished, with debris still scattered across a muddy car park.

The statue was funded by billionaire Roman Karkosik at an estimated cost of 100 million zlotys (around $26 million), according to local media. Officials in nearby Kikol, one of the region's poorest municipalities, hope it will draw pilgrims and create jobs. Coaches were already arriving while scaffolding was still up, a site guard said.

Not everyone is convinced. Some residents told AFP the money would have been better spent on a hospital or orphanage.

Poland remains a Catholic stronghold, but is secularising fast: 71% identified as Roman Catholic in the 2021 census, down from 88% a decade earlier.