In the spring of 1738 Timișoara was struck by plague. In less than two years, the horrible disease took the life of 1300 people. Among them, the wife of Anton Deschan von Hansen, a city counselor. In the following year, Deschan left to Vienna with the precise purpose to come back with a statue that will forever bring into the people’s memory Timișoara’s fight against plague.
The Viennese sculptor Georg Raphael Donner finished the statue in the summer of 1740. From Vienna, the monument travelled in pieces, on the Danube, Tisa and finally on Bega, on its way to Timisoara. The monument was first assembled in front of Deschan’s house. It consisted of a pedestal with three sides, each representing in Baroque manner plague, famine and war. On its corners, one can admire the statues of the saints Rochus, Sebastian and Karl Borromeus. St. Ioan of Nepomuk is represented at the base of the column and below it there is St. Rozalia. At the same height as St. Nepomuk, but on the other sides of the column, there are King David and St. Barbara. The column ends with the Holy Trinity.
Moved to Unirii Square
The small square housing the monument was bought by baroness Rosina von Metzrad, who wanted to build a house. She promised to move the statue in the future Union Square at her own expense. In the meantime the monument was dismantled and kept in the Catholic Dome. The baroness did not keep her promise. Maria Theresa herself interfered and ordered immediate action from von Metzrad.
Ever since, the monument commissioned by Anton Deschan von Hansen, in the memory of his beloved wife and the other victims of plague, can be admired in the Union Square. Similar columns exist in central Vienna and other Austrian and German cities. It is believed that the statue in Vienna served as model for the 280 years old one in Timișoara.
