Today, the town of one hundred thousand people, located in the heart of Haná, is and has always been one of the most important Moravian metropolises.
The construction of plague columns was started by the Council of Trent, which thus gave the Baroque period one of its distinctive features. The model was the column in Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, erected in 1614. At the time of its creation in the years 1716-1754, the Olomouc monument is one of the last examples of this fashionable wave. However, its artistic concept, the richness of figural decoration and, finally, its dimensions and height (35 m) significantly differs from all similar monuments. After its completion, the column became a source of immense pride for the inhabitants of the city, because all those who participated in its construction were citizens of Olomouc. Its consecration on September 9 was personally attended by the then first couple of the monarchy, Empress Maria Theresa and her husband Franz I Stephen of Lorraine. The Olomouc Trinity Column is the masterpiece of several artists and craftsmen, but it did not bring them much luck. The first to die during the construction was Václav Render. Not even his successors, František Thoneck, Jan Václav Rokický and Augustin Scholtz, were allowed to see the completed building. It was completed by Rokický’s son Jan Ignác.
CMQC recommends:
Take a good look at the Olomouc Astronomical Clock, decorated according to the designs of Karel Svolinský
