Statues - Hither & Thither

 

Description

Baroque stone sculptural work of 16 meters high, featuring larger-than-life statues of saints, along with other figures and numerous sculptural elements. The patron saints against the plague depicted are St Sebastian, St Roch, St Charles Borromeo and St Francis Xavier. An important reference to mining for the town is reflected in the column's design through the depiction of Atlanteans supporting the plinth with the saints; here, they have been replaced by miners leaning against a roughly hewn ‘stone’ wall, evoking a mine shaft. These figures also hold inscription plaques. The shaft of the column itself is a narrow four-sided pyramid covered with cloud-shaped decoration. At its summit stands a statue of the Immaculate Virgin Mary. The work is carved from local stone - shell limestone.

Neposkvrněné početí Panny Marie / Saint Mary Immaculate Conception.

Upper tier: Saint's statues

Svatý František Xaverský / Saint Francis Xavier (Javier, Navarra 1506 - São João Island, China, 1552), pioneering Roman Catholic missionary, co-founder of the Society of Jesus (Wikipedia).

Svatý / Saint Rochus (14th century), saint from Montpellier, he is specially invoked against the plague. (Wikipedia).

Svatý Šebestián / Saint Sebastian (died c. 288), martyr, killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians (Wikipedia).

Svatý Karel Boromejský / Saint Charles Borromeo (Italian: Carlo Borromeo) (1538 - 1584), cardinal, worked during the Counter-Reformation and was responsible for significant reforms in the Catholic Church (Wikipedia).

Upper tier: Reliefs

Zvěstování Panny Marie / The Annunciation of the Virgin Mary

Svatý Jakub Větší / Saint James the Greater One of the Twelve Apostles. Patron saint of pilgrims, soldiers and cavalrymen. Depicted holding a pilgrim's staff decorated with a scallop shell (Wikipedia).

Coat of arms of Kutná Hora

Svatá Barbora / Saint Barbara known in the Eastern Orthodox Church as the Great Martyr Barbara, was an early Christian saint and martyr (Wikipedia).

Lower tier: Reliefs and chronogram

Svatá Rozálie / St Rosalia of Palermo (Palermo 1130 – Palermo 1166), virgin and hermit, patron saint of Palermo; especially invoked in times of plague. (Wikipedia).

Svatý Jan Nepomucký / St. John of Nepomuk (Nepomuk c. 1345 - Praha 1393), confessor of the queen of Bohemia, refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional. At the behest of King Wenceslaus of Bohemia he was thrown from the Charles Bridge in Prague and drowned. John of Nepomuk is patron saint of bridges (Wikipedia)

Chronogram

Svatý Bernard z Clairvaux / Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153), French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order (Wikipedia).

MatrI DeI seMper VIrgIni sIne næVo ConCeptæ rIte posVIt epIDeMICa LVe LIberata MarIanIs gratIIs DeVota aC obstrICta kVttenberga	To the Mother of God, ever a virgin, without sin conceived, erected, when it from the plague was freed by Marian grace by the pious and afflicted Kutná Hora
Chronogram for 6146, likely the number of victims who succumbed to the plague in Kutná Hora and the surrounding villages.

Lower tier: Corner statues of miners with chronograms

Miner supporting Francis Xavier with chronogram:

Miner supporting Saint Rochus with chronogram:

Miner supporting Saint Sebastian with chronogram:

Miner supporting Saint Charles Borromeo with chronogram:

Miner supporting Francis Xavier with chronogram:

Contra VIrVs In braChIo potentIaM osten DIt

Against the pestilence, in the arm the power is demonstrated

Chronogram for 1715. The right forearm, which Francis Xavier used to bless and baptise his converts, is a relic in the main Jesuit church in Rome.

Miner supporting Saint Rochus with chronogram:

pestI feros LIbItnoMor beDe VLCere sana VIt

From the pestilential and fatal disease, from the sore, he healed

Chronogram for 1714.

Miner supporting Saint Sebastian with chronogram:

De MortIs teLo In proprIo VVLnere Confre gIt

Death's arrow, in his own wound, he snapped

Chronogram for 1714.

Miner supporting Saint Charles Borromeo with chronogram:

gLorIosa poenItentIa pesteM LoCI DetVr baVIt

Glorious penitence, the plague of this place, he drove out

Chronogram for 1715.

Marian, Holy Trinity and Plague Columns (Mariensäule, Dreifaltigkeitssäule, Pestsäule)

Artist

• František Baugut (Stráž pod Ralskem 1668 - Jihlava 1726), Czech Jesuit, sculptor, woodcarver, joiner, as well as an architect (Wikipedia)

Sources & Information

• Památkový katalog, morový sloup.
• Wikipedia, Morový sloup (Kutná Hora).
• Kudyznudy.cz, Morový sloup v Kutné Hoře.
• Ondřej Seifert & Naděžda Mottlová, Kutnohorské sochy světců. Kutná Hora, 2014 (PDF online, archived).
• Kutná Hora: Závěrečná Zpráva Programu regenerace MPR a MPZ za rok 2017, ((online).

Tags

Location (N 49°56'57" - E 15°16'0") (Satellite view: Google Maps)

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