Marian Columns cropped up across central Europe in the early-modern age to mark the end of plague outbreaks, celebrate a lucky miss, or even to try to ward off a local outbreak during an epidemic.
This one is set in the Square of the Republic right next to the Town Hall, and dates to 1681 when the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II fled to the Pilsen as the disease was spreading across Central Europe.
It was designed by local architect Kristian Widman and has a gilded statue of Madonna with child on its plinth.
