Kleine Pestsäule

The Kleine Pestsäule is a protected Baroque wayside shrine in Vienna, most likely erected as a votive offering in memory of one of the devastating plague epidemics that struck the city during the 17th century. Such monuments were commissioned by survivors or patrons as acts of gratitude to patron saints, typically placed at street corners or small squares where they punctuated daily foot traffic. As a modest counterpart to the famous Pestsäule on the Graben, it reflects Vienna's deep-rooted tradition of public commemoration of collective catastrophe. Listed under Austrian monument protection, the exact patron and precise date of its construction remain only partially documented.