The Marian Column on Munich’s Marienplatz will be renovated from Monday. According to a statement from the city, the natural stone surfaces and the bronze figures will be cleaned and conserved, joints will be restored and inscriptions will be rewritten. The work should be completed by the end of the month.
The Peace Monument in front of Munich City Hall was erected by Elector Maximilian I in 1638 as a thank you for Munich and Landshut not being destroyed in the Thirty Years’ War. The votive column was consecrated by the then Bishop of Freising, Veit Adam von Gepeckh. The monument is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it was once the center of Bavaria. All distances on signposts to Munich indicate the route to the Mariensäule.
The gilded, larger-than-life Madonna on the crescent moon with the blessing Christ Child in her arms comes from the Frauenkirche, where it adorned the high altar until 1613. On the base four heroic putti fight dragons, lions, basilisks and snakes. The beasts symbolize hunger, war, plague and heresy.
The Marian column was a model for many other columns, for example in Vienna and Prague. Over time, the memorial became the site of religious and political events: in 1683, Elector Max Emanuel set out from here to fight against the Turks. During the Nazi era, praying in front of the Madonna expressed silent protest against the regime. After the statue had been housed in the Frauenkirche during World War II, it was re-erected in 1945 by Cardinal Michael Faulhaber of Munich in the midst of the ruins of the destroyed city centre.