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Marian Pillar

Svitavy did not escape the plagues or cholera and typhus epidemics of the distant past. Following these disasters in the 16th and 17th centuries the grateful townspeople of Svitavy built a Baroque pillar in 1703, consecrated to the Virgin Mary as thanks for sparing the town.

The common sandstone sculpture is the work of an unknown master, perhaps from the circle of Olomouc workshops. The statue of Mary on the pillar is surrounded by the town patrons – St. Sebastian, St. Roch, St. Florian, and St. John Nepomuk. A statue of St. Rosalie is found in the pillar’s grotto. The inscriptions on the shaft testify to the actual construction of the pillar and renovations performed in 1807, 1883-1884, 1905, 1954, 1976, and 1995. Local and Brno artists, sculptors, and restorers contributed to these projects.