Europe's tallest statue of the Virgin Mary is inaugurated in a small Polish village

An enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that is believed to be Europe’s tallest has been inaugurated in a small Polish villageByCLAUDIA CIOBANU Associated Press and RAFAL NIEDZIELSKI Associated PressKONOTOPIE, Poland -- An enormous statue of the Virgin Mary that is believed to be Europe's tallest was inaugurated on Saturday in a small Polish village, financed by one of Poland's richest businesspeople.The monument towers 55.6 meters (182 feet) over Konotopie in central Poland, home to fewer than 150 people. Its height includes a crown-shaped 15-meter (49-foot) pedestal. It's taller — if less dramatically located — than the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which measures some 38 meters (125 feet) including its pedestal. It also surpasses another recent large-scale religious monument in Poland, the Christ the King statue in the western town of Swiebodzin, which was unveiled in 2010 and — complete with the mound it stands on — rises some 52 meters (170 feet) above the ground. There is a taller statue of the Virgin Mary in the Philippines, which measures some 98 meters (322 feet). But the new one in Poland is believed to be the largest of its kind in Europe. The vast ...