Votive column

[1] The presence of columns supporting votive sculptures in Ancient Greek temples is well attested since at least the Archaic period.

The oldest known example of a Corinthian column is in the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae in Arcadia, c. 450–420 BC.

The Christian adaptation is the Marian column, attested from at least the 10th century (in Clermont-Ferrand in France).

In 1614 it was transported to Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore and crowned with a bronze statue of the Virgin and Child.

Within decades it served as a model for many columns in Italy and other European countries, such as the Mariensäule in Munich (1638).