Marian and Holy Trinity columns

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The Holy Trinity Column, Olomouc, Czech Republic, a World Heritage Site

Marian columns are religious monuments depicting

Eastern Orthodox
Baroque architecture.

History

Tutzsäule, Klosterneuburg Monastery

In Imperial Rome, it was the practice to erect a statue of the Emperor atop a column. In 1381, Michael Tutz erected the gothic Tutzsäule at Klosterneuburg 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 the Counter-Reformation period following the Council of Trent (1545–1563).[citation needed]

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore
in Rome

The column in

indulgence for those who uttered a prayer to the Virgin while saluting the column.[2] Within decades it served as a model for many columns in Italy
and other European countries.

Dreifaltigkeitssäule

Plague Column, Vienna, Austria

The basic model which inspired building most Holy Trinity columns is that in the

Grabenplatz, Vienna, built after the 1679 plague;[3] in this monument the column has entirely disappeared in marble clouds and colossal saints, angels and putti. The column became a site of pilgrimage during the Covid-19 epidemic.[4]

There is a Holy Trinity Column in Holy Trinity Square, in front of Matthias Church in Budapest, 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 outstanding

World Heritage List as "one of the most exceptional examples of the apogee of central European Baroque artistic expression".[6]

There is also a Holy Trinity Column in the main square of Linz. The Holy Trinity Column in Teplice was designed by Matthias Braun and erected in thanksgiving for the city having been spared the plague in 1713. Braun also designed the Marian column in Jaroměř.[citation needed]

  • Holy Trinity Column, Matthias church, Budapest
    Holy Trinity Column, Matthias church, Budapest
  • Holy Trinity Column Linz, Austria
    Holy Trinity Column Linz, Austria
  • Dreifaltigkeitssäule, Zwettl
    Dreifaltigkeitssäule, Zwettl
  • Dreifaltigkeitssäule, Sopron
    Dreifaltigkeitssäule, Sopron

Mariensäule

Mariensäule on Marienplatz, Munich

The first column of this type north of the

invading Swedish army and the plague. The statue, created in 1590, depicts the Virgin Mary as Queen of Heaven standing atop a crescent moon. It inspired for example Marian columns in Prague and Vienna, but many others also followed very quickly. In the countries which used to belong to the Habsburg monarchy (especially Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia) it is quite exceptional to find an old town square without such a column, usually located in the most prominent place.[citation needed
]

The

Habsburgs in their country, and after declaring the independence of Czechoslovakia 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]

The Column of the Virgin Mary Immaculate in Kutná Hora was constructed by the Jesuit sculptor František Baugut between 1713 and 1715 to commemorate the recent plague.[8]

The Marian column in Český 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 at Maribor, 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]

  • Marián column Prague
    Marián column Prague
  • Marian column Cesky Krumlov town square
    Marian column Cesky Krumlov town square

Pestsäule

Plague Column, Eisenstadt

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 other saints. [citation needed]

The Plague Column at Eisenstadt 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 Saints Roch, Sebastian, Kajetan, John of Nepomuk, Saint Rosalie, and Saint Francis.[10]

The Guglia di San Domenico designed by Cosimo Fanzago, was erected after the plague of 1656.[11]

St. 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
]

See also

References

  1. ^ Tiessen-Wiens, Brenda. "A column about plague columns", Canadian Mennonite Magazine, May 20, 2020
  2. ^ Il Divoto Pellegrino Guidato, ed Istruito nella Visita delle quattro Basiliche di Roma, per il Giubileo dell'Anno Santo 1750., Stamperia del Characas, presso San Marco al Corso, Rome, 1749, page 338-339.
  3. ^ Meier, Allison C., "How to Memorialize a Plague", Jstor Daily, May 1, 2020
  4. ^ Pleschberger, Johannes. "Worried Vienna residents flock to Plague Column to ask for protection", Euronews, March 31, 2020
  5. ^ "18th century. 1713 The Holy Trinity Statue". Matthias Church Official website.
  6. ^ "Olomouc (Czech Republic)" (PDF). Ehc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2016-06-24.
  7. ^ Paces, Cynthia. "The Fall and Rise of Prague's Marian Column", Radical History Review 79 (2001) 141-155
  8. ^ "Sloup se sousoším – Morový sloup". Prague: National Heritage Institute.
  9. ^ "Plague Column", Maribor Tourist Board
  10. ^ "Plague Column", Burgenland Neusiedler See
  11. ISBN 9780571249015
    .
  12. ^ Knight, Christopher. "U.S. should build a memorial ‘plague column’ for COVID-19, but where?", Los Angeles Times, May 5, 2020

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marian and Holy Trinity columns and Plague columns.
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