Column of Pest

This guide to the Column of Pest on Vienna's Graben follows the plague that swept the city in 1679 and the promise Emperor Leopold the First made as he fled to the countryside, that he would raise a column of thanksgiving if Vienna survived. You'll hear how the monument passed through three different designers over fifteen years, from Matthias Rauchmiller's early work to Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach's reliefs at its base. Look near the top for the kneeling emperor's unmistakable jutting jaw.