Plague Column, Timișoara
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Coloana Ciumei | |
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 Interactive map of Plague Column | |
| Location | Union Square, Timișoara |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 45°45′28″N 21°13′44″E / 45.75778°N 21.22889°E |
| Designer | Georg Raphael Donner |
| Material | Sandstone |
| Beginning date | 1739 |
| Completion date | 1740 |
| Dedicated to | Great Plague of 1738 |
| LMI code | TM-III-m-A-06313[1] |
Plague Column (Romanian: Coloana Ciumei; German: Pestsäule), also known as Holy Trinity Monument, is a Baroque monument in Timișoara's Union Square. It was placed in the central square of the city, then known as Domplatz, in 1740 as an ex voto of chamber councilor Johann Anton Deschan von Hansen. The monument belongs to the typology of plague columns, widespread in the Baroque era throughout the South German, Bohemian and Hungarian space.
The statue commemorates the end of the plague epidemic that devastated the entire Banat between 1731 and 1738. During the epidemic, in Timișoara alone, more than 1,300 people lost their lives (one-sixth of the city's population). The epidemic was brought to Banat by Austrian imperial troops, and among the dead in Timișoara were six mayors.[2]
The monument was created between 1739 and 1740 by sculptor Georg Raphael Donner[3] in Vienna and transported via Danube–Tisza–Bega Canal to Timișoara. The entire project was overseen and funded by chamber councilor Johann Anton Deschan von Hansen, whose wife died during the epidemic. The statue was on display for 12 years in front of Deschan Palace,[4] on the site of the current Bega Shopping Center. In 1755, at the insistence of Empress Maria Theresa, the statue, dismantled into pieces, was placed in its current location.[5]
