Johann August Corvinus (after Salomon Kleiner): The Plague Column in Vienna, copperplate engraving, 1724

In 1679 Emperor Leopold I pledged to erect a votive column on the Graben in Vienna after the end of the plague epidemic. Completed in 1694, the column is regarded as the first work of the High Baroque era in Vienna. Several artists were involved in its creation, including the architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and the theatrical designer Lodovico Ottavio Burnacini.