Pestsäuler – the Vienna Plague Column, located on the Graben. Vienna was hit by one of the last big plague epidemics in 1679.
Fleeing the city, Emperor Leopold I vowed to erect a mercy column if the epidemic would end. After numerous false starts, the column was
inaugurated in 1693, and marks also the transition to the High Baroque era in Vienna, influencing the whole of Austrian architecture.