page_title: Marienplatz
section_title: Mary's Column
hierarchical_section_title: Marienplatz / Mary's Column
caption_attribution_description: English: Marienplatz in Munich (Bavaria), Germany - taken from a balcony of the New Town Hall
context_page_description: Marienplatz is a central square in the city centre of Munich, Germany. It has been the city's main square since 1158.
context_section_description: The Mariensäule is a Marian column located on the Marienplatz in Munich, Germany.  Mary is revered here as Patrona Bavariae (Latin: Protector of Bavaria).
  It was erected in 1638 to celebrate the end of Swedish occupation during the Thirty Years' War, to be precise, following a respective vow by Duke Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria if the ducal residential cities of Munich and Landshut would be spared from war destruction. The column is topped by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary standing on a crescent moon as the Queen of Heaven, created in 1590.  The figure was originally located in the Frauenkirche. Mariensäule in Munich was the first column of this type built north of the Alps and inspired erecting other Marian columns in this part of Europe.
  At each corner of the column's pedestal is a statue of a putto, created by Ferdinand Murmann. The four putti are each depicted fighting a different beast, symbolizing the city's overcoming of adversities: war represented by the lion, pestilence by the cockatrice, hunger or famine by the dragon and heresy by the serpent.
  The full inscription is as follows (with a translation below it)  
  DEO OPTIMO MAXIMO          
  VIRGINI DEIPARAE           
  BOICAE DOMINAE             
  BENIGNISSIMAE 
  PROTECTRICI 
  POTENTISSIMAE 
  OB PATRIAM 
  VRBES EXERCITVS 
  SEIPSVM DOMVM 
  ET SPES SVAS 
  SERVATAS 
  HOC PERENNE 
  AD POSTEROS 
  MONVMENTVM 
  MAXIMILIANVS 
  COM. PAL. RHENI 
  VTRIVSQVE BAVARIAE DVX 
  S.R.I. ARCHIDAP. 
  ET ELECTOR AND ELECTOR
  CLIENTVM INFIMVS 
  GRATVS SVPPLEX 
  POSUIT A. MDCXXXIIX
  TO GOD THE BEST AND GREATEST
  THE VIRGIN, THE MOTHER OF GOD
  MISTRESS OF BAVARIA
  MOST BENIGN
  PROTECTRESS
  MOST POWERFUL;
  BECAUSE THE HOMELAND
  CITIES, ARMIES
  HIS OWN HOUSE
  AND HIS HOPES
  WERE SAVED
  THIS LASTING
  MEMORIAL
  FOR THOSE TO COME
  MAXIMILIANVS 
  PALSGRAVE OF THE RHINE
  RULER OF BOTH BAVARIAS
  PRINCE OF THE HOLY
  ROMAN EMPIRE
  AND ELECTOR
  THE WORST OF HIS SERVANTS
  A GRATEFUL SUPPLICANT
  PUT UP IN THE YEAR 1638
caption: Marienplatz with Mariensäule
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