Marian columns are religious monuments depicting the Virgin Mary on the top, often built in thanksgiving for the ending of a plague (plague columns) or for some other reason. The purpose of the Holy Trinity columns was usually simply to celebrate the church and the faith, though the plague motif could sometimes play its role in their erection as well. Erecting religious monuments in the form of a column surmounted by a figure or a Christian symbol was a gesture of public faith that flourished in the Catholic countries of Europe, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. Thus, they became one of the most visible features of Baroque architecture. This usage also influenced some Eastern Orthodox Baroque architecture.
