Tours · Bratislava · Monument
Holy Trinity Column
A soaring baroque plague column raised in 1713 to thank heaven for the end of a devastating epidemic. Gilded rays crown the Holy Trinity above a triangular base ringed with plague saints on quiet Rybné námestie.
About this place
Standing on Rybné námestie, the Fish Square between the Old Town and the Danube, the Holy Trinity Column is Bratislava's monument of gratitude and remembrance. It was paid for by public collection in 1713 to mark the end of the plague that ravaged the city at the close of 1712, a catastrophe that killed 3,860 inhabitants and infected a further 1,561. The driving force and chief donor was Cardinal Christian August of Saxe-Zeitz, Archbishop of Esztergom and Primate of Hungary, whose name was carved into the base. God the Father and the Son sit beneath golden rays and a dove of the Holy Spirit at the summit, while the triangular pedestal carries saints invoked against pestilence, including Saint Roch and Saint Charles Borromeo, flanked by the Virgin Mary and Saint Stephen, the first king of Hungary. Around 1760 the Bratislava sculptor Jozef Sartory added pedestal reliefs of the last rites, the burial of the dead, and Saint Rosalia, patron of the sick.
Key facts
- 1713 year — Raised by public collection to mark the end of the plague
- 3860 deaths — Residents of Bratislava killed by the epidemic of 1712
- 3 sides — The triangular base echoes the three persons of the Trinity
📍 Hviezdoslavovo námestie, 814 37, Bratislava