Statue of Maria Immaculata on a sphere with snake, standing on top of a round column. On the square base are four angels with text shields:
(click on the photo for an enlargement in a separate window.)
Dise Ist die / den / Gefallenen / auffrichtet
Dise Ist / in dem Gericht / Eine Vor / sprecherin
Bisd Ihm / Fegfeuer Eine / Trösterin
Dise Ist Sie / dem Sterbenden / beysteht
Inscription(s)
O
Specvlvm
sine
macvla
absterge
nostras
1720
i.t.
Marian, Holy Trinity and Plague Columns (Mariensäule, Dreifaltigkeitssäule, Pestsäule)
Marian and Holy Trinity columns are religious monuments with a statue of Saint Mary or a depiction of the Holy Trinity on top of a column. Around the base of the column are usually various saints. Marian columns were built to thank the Virgin Mary for intervention to quell the pestilence and other scourges. The first of those was erecrted in Vienna in 1667 (Mariensäule) and the second in 1679 also in Vienna at the Graben, the Pestsäule.
The purpose of the Holy Trinity columns was usually simply to celebrate the church and the faith, although the plague motif could play a role.
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
(Wikipedia)