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The Plague Memorial

The town of Maribor was five times ravaged by the plague in seventeenth century. The worst happened in 1680 when a third of town population died. Survivals first built the Chapel of St. Barbara at Calvary Hill outside the city walls and the next year The Plague Memorial was erected to commemorate the plague victims of 1680.

Initialy, there was only a figural column of Virgin Mary. In 1743 the famous sculptor Josef Straub brought the Memorial into present shape. The centerpiece of the Memorial is still a column with Virgin Mary, but the pedestal is surrounded by the saints invoked against the dreaded plague: St. Francis of Assisis, Bostjan, Jacob the Elder, Anton of Padova, Rok, and St. Francis Xavier. The pedestal is in the shape of an altar. Above the altar table is an oval cartouche with a Latin inscription.