The Marian column of Prague is a religious monument consisting of a column topped with a statue of the Virgin Mary, located in the city's Old Town Square. The original column was erected in 1650, shortly after the conclusion of the Thirty Years' War. It was demolished in November 1918, coinciding with the fall of Austria-Hungary. In 2020, the column was reconstructed, being completed on 15 August 2020.
The reerected Marian column on Old Town Square
The original Marian column in 1894
The Marian column following its toppling
Copy of the statue of the Virgin Mary by Peter Vana
Marian and Holy Trinity columns
Marian columns are religious monuments depicting Virgin Mary on the top, often built in thanksgiving for the ending of a plague or for some other reason. The purpose of the Holy 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. Erecting religious monuments in the form of a column surmounted by a figure or a Christian symbol was a gesture of public faith that flourished in the Catholic countries of Europe especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. Thus they became one of the most visible features of Baroque architecture. This usage also influenced some Eastern Orthodox Baroque architecture.
The Holy Trinity Column, Olomouc, Czech Republic, a World Heritage Site
Tutzsäule, Klosterneuburg Monastery
The Marian column in front of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome
Plague Column, Vienna, Austria