Marian Column on County Square

Brief information

This column stands at the entrance to the Capuchin Church of St. Stephen and immediately connects the square with the memory of a civic disaster. It was erected in 1723, ten years after another outbreak of plague in Bratislava; the Latin inscription directly points to this occasion.

So what we have before us is not simply a religious sculpture, but a plague column — a monument in which the ideas of gratitude and protection are gathered into a vertical composition. The lower part holds inscriptions and figures of angels, above it rises a Corinthian column, and at the top stands the Madonna with Child. The historical fact changes how we see the form: here, the height and solemnity work as a sign of an epidemic that was survived.

What to Notice First

It is worth comparing the square railing and the square base: both elements create a strict lower frame, but the corners of the railing are softened by quarter-circle cutouts. On this base stand four winged angels with elliptical shields and inscriptions, so the text of remembrance is not placed separately, but built into the sculptural band of the column.

Higher up, another level of reading begins. The Corinthian column separates the lower commemorative tier from the upper scene with the Madonna and Child. They stand on a globe encircled by a snake; above their heads is a metal halo with 11 stars. In this way, the structure of the monument leads the eye from bottom to top: from the fence and inscriptions about a specific event to the religious image of victory and protection.