Located on the Horní náměstí (Upper Square) in Olomouc, the 32-metre high column is one of the most important Baroque works of sculpture and small architecture in Central Europe. Together with the nearby Baroque fountains and St. Mary's Column, it forms one of the largest monument complexes in the Czech Republic. Among the statues of saints which decorate the column, we can find Jan Nepomucen and Jan Sarkander, both well-known in the Czech Republic and in Poland.

History of the origin of the column

The Holy Trinity Column was erected between 1716 and 1754 as a votive offering in thanksgiving for the eradication of one of the most dangerous epidemics to hit Moravia. The proposal for the location of the column on this site came from the Czech imperial architect and stonemason Václav Render.

Local artists were involved in the construction in turn: Wenceslas Render, František Thoneck, Jan Wenceslas Rokicki and Augustyn Scholtz. It was not until Jan Ignacy Rokitnicki, however, that the work was completed. The authors of the sculptures were Filip Sattler and Andrzej Zahner, and Andrzej Zahner was responsible for the gilding of the copper sculpture on top.

The inauguration of the column in 1754 was attended by Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Franz I of Lorraine. The result of the work of the Olomouc artists was so much appreciated by the citizens of Olomouc that during the siege of the city in 1758 by the Prussian army, they asked the commander of the troops to save the column from being shot at. The request was granted, so we can admire the column in an almost unchanged form to this day. After the war, a gold-plated cannonball was embedded in one of the breaks to commemorate the siege of the city.

Description of the column

The monument is a declining example of the prevailing trend in 17th-century Europe of erecting moribund columns, initiated by the 1614 realisation in the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. The column is three-tiered and has the shape of a hexagonal, conical prism, formed from blocks of stone. The base is reminiscent of the Star of Bethlehem. The sculptural decoration of the building includes: 18 figures of saints, 12 figures carrying light and 12 reliefs with images of the apostles.

Among the statues of saints, we find Jan Nepomucen and Jan Sarkander - Czech and Polish saints. At the time the statue of the latter was placed on the column, he had not yet even been proclaimed blessed. However, already at that time there was a belief that the pastor from Holešov, a pilgrim to Poland and a martyr condemned to death by the Protestant authorities, should be canonised.

In addition, in the central part of the column we find a multifigural scene of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, above it a group of the Holy Trinity and a statue of the Archangel Michael with a fiery sword, and inside it a small chapel open seasonally.

Due to its historical and artistic value, the building was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000.