Holy Trinity Column

The Pestsaule on the Graben in central Vienna is a 21-meter Trinity column. Emperor Leopold I vowed it during the 1679 plague and built it in thanks for the epidemic's end. Early designs came from Matthias Rauchmiller, who died in 1686; the final composition was developed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, Lodovico Burnacini and Paul Strudel. The column was consecrated on October 29, 1693. At its base Leopold I kneels in marble in prayer; above him a cloud-like pyramid of cherubs and saints rises to the Trinity group at the top. The Pestsaule is regarded as one of the most important sculptural masterpieces of Viennese High Baroque and stands in the middle of the city's best-known pedestrian boulevard.