St. Mary and St. John of Nepomuk Monument

The St. Mary and St. John of Nepomuk Monument stands at the centre of Liberty Square — a tall stone column completed in 1756 in thanksgiving for the city's deliverance from the 1738-9 plague. The column is carved with figures of the Virgin Mary at the top, the Habsburg saint John of Nepomuk at the base, and a procession of cherubs and saints around the upright shaft.

It is the oldest free-standing public monument in the city and one of only a handful of 18th-century plague columns still on their original site in Romania. The carving is in late Baroque style, with the heavy folds and theatrical poses characteristic of the period. The column has been restored several times — most recently in the late 2010s — and is in good condition.

things to do sight
A story
Plague columns were a common form of public thanksgiving in Habsburg Central Europe after major outbreaks of plague subsided. The Timisoara column was commissioned by the city's German burghers after the plague of 1738-9, which is reported to have killed around 1,000 residents — perhaps a third of the urban population at the time.

Other places in Things to Do