Plague Column (Pestsäule) on Graben

The Trinity Column (plague column) donated by Leopold I in 1679 formed a new focal point.

The Plague Column on the Graben in Vienna - A Baroque Monument to Thank You
The foundation stone for today's plague column was laid by Emperor Leopold I on July 30, 1687, at the same spot where the previous wooden Trinity Column had been located. The funds were scarce: After the devastating plague in 1679, only four years later the Grand Vizier Kara Mustafa with his Ottoman army was at the gates of Vienna. The siege could be fought off, but the losses were enormous. A complicated financing plan ensured a continuous work on the plague column. The emperor himself acted as founder and provided larger sums, but tolls and sacrificial funds were also used for construction.After these disasters survived, the imperial residence city became a magnet for young, ambitious artists. From them came innovative impulses for a redesign of the plague column. The architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656 - 1723), who was later showered with orders in Vienna, intervened decisively with his pictorial ideas. He raised the demand for something "unfair" - something unusual. According to his ideas, the pedestal should not only serve simply as a stand for the nine angels, but rather form an independent element of the architecture, equipped with twelve reliefs according to his own designs.Fischer von Erlach vehemently turned against the erection of a pillar, as he believed that they were already visible everywhere in the villages. Also, according to his proposals, the Trinity should no longer be portrayed as a "mercy seat", but replaced by a new form of symbolization. The theater engineer and architect Ludovico Burnacini (1636-1707), who was already in imperial service, took over the reorganization of the column: after several designs, some of which have been preserved, he developed a cloud pyramid on which he could place nine angels.

A remarkable pillar reminiscent of the plague. She stands in the middle of a bustling shopping area.