Destruction of Marian Column remembered in Prague

The destruction of a Marian Column in Prague’s Old Town Square, which occurred in 1918, was remembered in the Czech capital on Monday. The column was pulled down 90 years ago, five days after Czechoslovakia’s declaration of independence as it was believed to have been erected in praise of the victory of the Habsburg coalition at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620. The 14-metre-tall column was however built in 1650 in gratitude for the end of the Thirty Years’ War. A gathering was held on the site where it once stood; the event, organized by the Association for the Renewal of the Marian Column in Prague, concluded with a concert followed by a Roman Catholic mass in the Holy Trinity Church on Old Town Square.

Author: Jan Richter