Holy Trinity Column, Olomouc
A Baroque plague column and UNESCO World Heritage site in Olomouc.
The Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc, Czech Republic, is a Baroque structure built from 1716 to 1754. It celebrated the Catholic faith and gave thanks for the end of a plague that hit Moravia between 1713 and 1715, while also showing local pride, as all its creators were Olomouc residents and most saints depicted had ties to the city. It is the largest Baroque sculptural group in the Czech Republic and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 as a top example of central European Baroque art.
Quick Facts
- Location
- Olomouc, Czech Republic
- Begin
- 1716
- Complete
- 1754
Facts from the source article.
History
The erection of Marian (plague) columns on town squares is an exclusively Baroque, post-Tridentine phenomenon, with its iconographic basis in the Book of Revelation. The basic model is thought to have been the column in the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome from 1614. The Olomouc monument was the culmination of work by several artists and master craftsmen, but it did not bring them fortune. Wenzel Render, a monumental mason and privileged imperial architect, first proposed the column, enforced his will upon the city council, designed it, built the first stage, and helped finance it. He died during the work, as did his followers Franz Thoneck, Johann Wenzel Rokický, and Augustin Scholtz; the column was completed by Johann Ignaz Rokický. Goldsmith Simon Forstner, who made gilded copper sculptures of the Holy Trinity and the Assumption of the Virgin, finished his work but lost his health from using toxic mercury compounds during gilding. The column was consecrated in 1754 at a celebration attended by Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Francis I. Four years later, during a Prussian siege, the column was hit by cannon shots; citizens processed to beg the Prussian general not to shoot at it, and General James Keith complied. The column was repaired, and a replica of a stone shot was half-buried in its stem at the impact site.
Description
The column’s top features gilded copper figures of the Holy Trinity, with the Archangel Gabriel above and the Assumption of the Virgin below. Around the three-tiered base are eighteen stone saint statues and fourteen reliefs set in ornate cartouches. The highest tier includes saints linked to Jesus’ life—Anne, Joachim, Joseph, and John the Baptist—alongside Lawrence and Jerome, plus three reliefs for Faith, Hope, and Love. The middle tier holds Moravian saints Cyril and Methodius, Blaise, and Bohemian patrons Adalbert and John of Nepomuk. The lowest tier shows Austrian patrons Maurice and Florian, Bohemian patron Wenceslas, John of Capistrano, Anthony of Padua, and Aloysius Gonzaga, a student patron reflecting Olomouc’s university pride. Reliefs of all twelve apostles sit among these sculptures.
John Sarkander
Sarkander was a priest tortured to death in Olomouc prison at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War for allegedly refusing to break the seal of confession. Placing him here violated tradition because he had not yet been canonized or beatified, risking problems with the Holy See, but his local following was so strong that the craftsmen took the risk. He was beatified in 1859 and canonized in 1995 during Pope John Paul II's visit to Olomouc.
More in World Heritage Sites in the Czech Republic
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