Marian columns are religious monuments depicting theVirgin Mary on the top, often built in thanksgiving for the ending of aplague (plague columns) or for some other reason. The purpose of theHoly Trinity columns was usually simply to celebrate the church and the faith, though the plague motif could sometimes play its role in their erection as well. Erectingreligious monuments in the form of acolumn surmounted by a figure or aChristian symbol was a gesture of public faith that flourished in theCatholic countries ofEurope, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries.[1] Thus, they became one of the most visible features ofBaroque architecture. This usage also influenced someEastern Orthodox Baroque architecture.
InImperial Rome, it was the practice to erect a statue of the Emperor atop a column. In 1381, Michael Tutz erected the gothic Tutzsäule atKlosterneuburg Monastery to mark the ending of an epidemic.[citation needed]
The Christian practice of erecting a column topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary became common especially in theCounter-Reformation period following theCouncil of Trent (1545–1563).[citation needed]
The column inPiazza Santa Maria Maggiore inRome was one of the first. Erected in 1614, it was designed byCarlo Maderno during thepapacy of Paul V. Maderno's fountain at the base combines the armorial eagles and dragons of Paul V (Borghese). The column, with a Corinthian capital, is topped with a statue of the Virgin and the child Jesus. The column itself is ancient: it had supported the vault of the so-calledBasilica of Constantine in theRoman Forum, destroyed by anearthquake in the 9th century. By the 17th century only this column survived; in1614 it was transported toPiazza Santa Maria Maggiore and crowned with a bronze statue ofthe Virgin and Child made by Domenico Ferri. In apapal bull from the year of its installation, the pope decreed anindulgence for those who uttered a prayer to the Virgin while saluting the column.[2] Within decades it served as a model for many columns inItaly and other European countries.
The basic model which inspired building most Holy Trinity columns is that in theGrabenplatz, Vienna, built after the1679 plague;[3] in this monument the column, has entirely disappeared in marble clouds and colossal saints, angels andputti. The column became a site of pilgrimage during theCovid-19 pandemic.[4]
There is a Holy Trinity Column in Holy Trinity Square, in front ofMatthias Church inBudapest, a plague memorial erected in 1713, which served as a model for many similar works in the country.[5]
The era of these religious structures culminated with the outstandingHoly Trinity Column in Horní Square inOlomouc. This monument, built shortly after the plague which struckMoravia (nowadays in the Czech Republic) between 1714 and 1716, was exceptional because of its monumentality, rich decoration and unusual combination of sculptural material (stone andgilded copper). Its base was made so big that even a chapel was hidden inside. This column is the only one which has been individually inscribed on theUNESCOWorld Heritage List as "one of the most exceptional examples of the apogee of central EuropeanBaroque artistic expression".[6]
There is also a Holy Trinity Column in the main square ofLinz. The Holy Trinity Column inTeplice was designed byMatthias Braun and erected in thanksgiving for the city having been spared the plague in 1713. Braun also designed the Marian column inJaroměř.[citation needed]
The first column of this type north of theAlps was theMariensäule built inMunich in1638 to celebrate the sparing of the city from both theinvading Swedish army and the plague. The statue, created in 1590, depicts the Virgin Mary asQueen of Heaven standing atop a crescent moon. It inspired for example Marian columns inPrague andVienna, but many others also followed very quickly. In the countries which used to belong to theHabsburg monarchy (especiallyAustria,Hungary, theCzech Republic, andSlovakia) it is quite exceptional to find an old town square without such a column, usually located in the most prominent place.[citation needed]
ThePrague column was built inOld Town Squareshortly after theThirty Years' War in thanksgiving to theVirgin Mary Immaculate for helping in the fight with the Swedes. At noon its shadow indicated the so-called PragueMeridian, which was used to check the exactsolar time. Some Czechs connected its placement and erection with thehegemony of theHabsburgs in their country, and after declaring the independence ofCzechoslovakia in 1918 a crowd of people pulled this old monument down and destroyed it in an excess of revolutionary fervor. The column was rebuilt in 2020.[7]
TheColumn of the Virgin Mary Immaculate inKutná Hora was constructed by the Jesuit sculptor František Baugut between 1713 and 1715 to commemorate the recent plague.[8]
The Marian column inČeský Krumlov's town square was completed in 1716. At the base are statues of SS. Sebastian, Wencelaus and Vitus. It commemorates the plague of 1697. In gratitude for the end of the plague in 1680 atMaribor, a plague column was built in 1681, with the original being replaced in 1743. Arranged around a pillar bearing an image of Virgin Mary, are six saints, all intercessors against the plague.[9]
Over time distinctions between a Marian column and a plague column blurred. Although plague columns are most commonly dedicated to the Virgin Mary, some depict othersaints.[citation needed]
The Plague Column atEisenstadt was erected in 1713 in honour of the Holy Trinity and by Mary, as Queen of heaven as a plea to God to free the city from the plague. On the pedestal there are represented SaintsRoch, Sebastian, Kajetan, John of Nepomuk, Saint Rosalie, and Saint Francis.[10]
TheGuglia di San Domenico designed byCosimo Fanzago, was erected after the plague of 1656.[11]
St. Sebastian, a martyr whose statue also often decorates these structures, was originally the patron ofarchers. In theMiddle Ages Sebastian took the place of the plague-dealing archerApollo,[12] as people sometimes metaphorically compared the random nature of plague to random shots of archers, and thus he started being connected with the plague too; as wasSt. Roch, who is said to have fallen ill when helping the sick during an epidemic of plague and who recovered through the strength of his faith.[citation needed]
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