Maria column, Baroque plague column on Dolní náměstí, Olomouc, Czech Republic

The Marienpestsäule is a baroque plague column on Dolní náměstí (Lower Square) in Olomouc, not the Upper Square. Its twisted shaft is topped by a statue of the Virgin Mary Immaculata, and eight saints stand in two rows of four around the base: Roch, Charles Borromeo, Francis Xavier and Sebastian below; Pauline, Rosalia, Catherine of Siena and Barbara above.

Václav Render built the column in 1715–1723 as thanks from Olomouc's townspeople for the end of the plague that struck Moravia in 1714–1716. Sculptures were carved by Jan Sturmer and Tobiáš Schütz. In 1758 Prussian siege damage led to the replacement of the statue of St Sebastian; the twisted shaft was replaced by a copy during restoration in 1985–1992.

The eight saints around the base are plague intercessors: Roch, Charles Borromeo, Francis Xavier and Sebastian below, Rosalie, Catherine of Siena, Barbara and Olomouc's patron Pauline above. The twisted column carries the Immaculate Conception at its top, and the base block has an oval opening through it.

The column stands on Dolní náměstí (Lower Square), not the Upper Square, so approach it from that square's open side. Its base block has an oval opening passing right through it, and the eight saints are set in two tiers of four, which helps you read the sculpture group while walking around.

The twisted column shaft seen today is a copy: the original was replaced during restoration between 1985 and 1992. The column stands on Dolní náměstí, not Horní náměstí, where Václav Render later built the larger Holy Trinity Column because he found this one insufficiently grand.