Trinity Column (Linz)

The Trinity Column, an 18th-century plague column, is located in the center of Linz’s main plaza, which is one of Austria’s most attractive squares.

Linz escaped the last big outbreak of plague in Central Europe unharmed.Similarly, during the Turkish Wars in 1683, the War of the Spanish Succession in 1704, and the War of the Spanish Succession in 1712, one was spared from an oncoming big conflagration.In appreciation, the emperor, the Upper Austrian provincial estates, and the inhabitants contributed a 55-foot-high column designed by Antonio Beduzzi and built between 1717 and 1723 by Salzburg master stonemason Sebastian Stumpfegger.Due to the anticipated building of the Trinity Column, the pillory, which had been on Linz’s main plaza until 1716, was relocated to Taubenmarkt.

The Trinity Column was finished in 1723, but it wasn’t opened until November 17, 1728, by Linz city dean Max Gandolph Steyrer von Rothenthurn.A long-term study into the excessively high costs of 30,000 guilders had been launched at the request of state governor Christoph Wilhelm von Thürheim.The background to this was a simmering debate that raged throughout the Baroque period between the Jesuits, who were supported by the emperor, and the city deans, who were on the side of the inhabitants.

The big flood of 1872 reached the Trinity Column.During WWII, all ornamental pieces were taken and kept in the Linz central vaults on Kapuzinerstraße beginning in 1943.For protection, the coats of arms were imbedded in plaster.The base and column drums, however, remained in the main plaza because of their tremendous weight.Matthäus Schlager, a stonemason, finished the column in December 1947, after the war ended.

The Trinity Column was totally refurbished between June 2019 and July 2020.

Linz’s baroque landmark is 20 meters tall and built of white marble from Untersberg.Three inscription panels with the imperial coat of arms, the state coat of arms, and the coat of arms of the city of Linz mark the dedication by the emperor, the provincial estates, and the people of Linz on the three sides of the column’s base.These three heraldic stones, which also point in the same direction – castle, country home, and town hall – so represent the terrestrial trinity.Attached to the base are statues of the plague saints, St. Sebastian and St. Charles Borromeo, as well as the patron saint of fire defense, St.Florian.Charles Borromeo was also the patron saint of Emperor Charles VI at the time.

The enormous cloud column is adorned with joyous small angels, and the column shaft is adorned with a figure of St. Maria Immaculata standing on a crescent moon.The Trinity group on top is composed of gilded copper.