John Paul II
Monument located in front of the new Basilica
The work of Krakow sculptor Marian Konieczny, the monument was unveiled on September 15, 1999. The bronze figures stand on a granite pedestal, the monument rising to a height of 14 feet. In an echo of medieval painting, it portrays John Paul II being offered a model of the Basilica by the kneeling Rev. Eugeniusz Makulski the custodian of the Marian Sanctuary and the man whose vision and dedicated effort over the last third of a century or more find expression in a Basilica which, when completed, will be the seventh largest in Europe.
In another echo to medieval painting, portrayed on a bronze frieze that surrounds the granite pedestal is a procession of some 30 individuals including the architect of the Basilica, Barbara Bielecka, and the donor of the monument, Grzegorz Tuderek, Managing Director of Budimex, the Poland-based International Construction Company which is building the Basilica.
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