The Plague Memorial is a monument in Main Square of the city of Maribor

Maribor

Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....

, Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, erected by "pious burghers

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

" in gratitude for the end of a 1680 plague epidemic that had claimed a third of the city's population.

The original monument was built in 1681; the current one is a 1743 replacement by local sculptor Jožef Štraub. It is considered among his finest work, and one of the best examples of baroque art

Baroque art

Baroque painting is the painting associated with the Baroque cultural movement. The movement is often identified with Absolutism, the Counter Reformation and Catholic Revival, but the existence of important Baroque art and architecture in non-absolutist and Protestant states throughout Western...

 in Slovenia.

It is made entirely of white marble, and consists of an ornate rectangular pedestal that supports a Corinthian column bearing a gilded statue of the Virgin Mary, crowned with twelve stars and standing on the moon (a reference to Revelation

Revelation

In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing, through active or passive communication with a supernatural or a divine entity...

 12:1). At its base, the column is surrounded by six saints to whom the townspeople had prayed for intercession:

• St. Francis of Assissi
• St. Sebastian
• St. James
• St. Anthony of Padua
• St. Roch
  St. Roch
  St. Roch is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police schooner, the first ship to completely circumnavigate North America, and the second sailing vessel to complete a voyage through the Northwest Passage...
  
  
• St. Francis Xavier

The monument was later surrounded by an ornamental stone fence.