Name of Monument:

Holy Trinity Monument

Also known as:

Plague Pillar (Column)

Location:

Osijek, Slavonia, Croatia

Date:

1729–1730; 1784

Artists:

Unknown

Denomination / Type of monument:

Votive monument to the plague

Patron(s):

Marija Ana Petraš

History:

Marija Ana Petraš, widow of the commander of the fort in Osijek general and vice-marshal Maksimilijan Petraš, initiated the erection of the monument and financed it as was recorded on the occasion by “Pestis Syrmiensis”. In 1784, four statues were taken from Osijek's two city gates to furnish the outer perimeter of the monument.

Description:

Votive pillars are a town planning-cum-sculptural brief that is typical of Central Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. They relate broadly speaking to two major historical events of the time: the Turkish threat; defeat and withdrawal, and the plague. The Turkish preoccupation, i.e. victory over the Turks, is symbolised by a depiction of the Immaculate Virgin at the top of a central pillar. Monuments erected to protect from or commemorate the plague depict the Holy Trinity at the centre of the composition and the patron saints of the plague at the base. One of the best-known and most influential examples of the latter is the monument to the Holy Trinity in Graben, Vienna, the planning and construction for which some of Vienna's most prominent sculptors took part.
The core of the Osijek monument consists of a massive pedestal on which there rests a smooth pillar. The Holy Trinity is at the top. The ground plan of the pedestal is expanded by protuberances of four large volute brackets with pedestals on which stand four statues arranged around the pillar. The saints, traditionally held to be sovereign against the plague, are St. Charles Borromeo and St. Francis Xavier, St. Roch and St. Sebastian, and additionally, a recumbent figure of St. Rozalia. As is often the case with stone monuments in the open-air, the Osijek Column's sculptural saints are suffering from environmental damage. Moreover, partial alteration of the sculptures during restorations of the past makes their original formal and stylistic features difficult to discern. Still, it is clear that a well-trained sculptor who had thoroughly mastered the contemporary Baroque artistic vocabulary was responsible. In 1784, statues of the Immaculate Virgin, St. Catherine, St. John Nepomuk and St. Joseph were transferred from Osijek's two city gates and placed around the perimeter of the monument.

Placed at the centre of the main square of the Baroque fortress in Osijek, the Plague Column is Croatia's best-preserved example of a monument designed to ward off or commemorate the end of the plague. Such monuments were a characteristic feature of Central European towns in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Special features

St. Charles Borromeo (detail)

Upper inner rim of the monument

1729/30

Unknown architect

St. Roch (detail)

Upper inner rim of the monument

1729/30

Unknown architect

St. Francis Xavier (detail)

Upper inner rim of the monument

1729/30

Unknown architect

St. Charles Borromeo, St. Roch, St Francis Xavier and St. John Nepomuk (detail)

Inner rim of the monument

1729/30

Unknown architect

Selected bibliography:

Horvat, A., (ed) “Barok u kontinentalnoj Hrvatskoj” in Barok u Hrvatskoj, Zagreb, 1982.
Puhmajer, P., Zavjetni pilovi – poredbena studija, Zagreb, 2003.
Baričević, D., Barokno kiparstvo sjeverne Hrvatske, Zagreb, 2008.

Citation of this web page:

Vlasta  Zajec "Holy Trinity Monument" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2025.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;hr;Mon11;15;en

Prepared by: Vlasta ZajecVlasta Zajec

SURNAME: Zajec
NAME: Vlasta

AFFILIATION: Institute of Art History, Zagreb

TITLE: PhD, Scientific Consultant

CV:
Vlasta Zajec was awarded her BA in Art History and Comparative Literature from Zagreb University (Faculty of Philosophy) in 1989. In the same year she began work at the Institute of Art History. She was awarded her MA in 1995 (17th-Century Wooden Altars in Istria), and her PhD in 2001 (17th Century Wooden Sculpture in Istria). She has spent brief periods of study in Italy (Udine, Venice and Trieste) and Germany (Munich). Her areas of research are wooden and marble altars and 17th- and 18th-century sculpture in Istria and North Croatia.
Translation by: Graham McMaster
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: HR 17