Virtual tours of SLOVAK REPUBLIC

Immaculata Sculpture

The Immaculata (or The Plague Pillar) is a Baroque plague column in Kosice. It was erected at the place of medieval gallows at Main Street in 1723 and it commemorates the end of the plague of 1710-1711.

It is a 14 metre high column on the stone basement with sculptures of Saint Joseph, Saint Sebastian and Saint Ladislaus. There is a sculpture of Virgin Mary on the top of the column. The sculptures of Saint Gabriel, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint Margaret, Saint Michael the Archangel and Saint Barbara are on the pillars of the fence.

The statue was damaged during the World War II. It was restored by academic sculptor Vojtech Löffler in the years 1949-1951 and 1971-1972. The last reconstruction took place in 1996-1998.

Premonstratensian church

The Premonstratensian church, initially Jesuitical church, is the most valuable Baroque object of Kosice. It is especially notable for its interior.

It the Middle Ages, the Royal House (a seat of the Royal Chamber), stood in the place of the present church. The Captain Andrew Doczi established there a dwelling and a chapel for Jesuits in the Protestant town at the beginning of the Recatholization. They were tortured here to death in the night from 6th to 7th of September, 1619 by soldiers of George I Rákóczi, the father of the Prince of Transylvania George II Rakoczi. They are the well-known Saint Martyrs of Kosice (Marek Krizin, Melicher Grodecky and Stefan Pongrac).

The bestial murder of the Jesuits shocked the town. All the Rakoczi ladies in fear of the God’s anger tried to achieve a pardon for the family. The wife of George II Rákóczi purchased the real estate for a church construction for the Jesuites inspired by the famous Church of the Gesu in Rome. The church was finished in 1681. In 1811 it was given to the Premonstrates. Today, the church is consecrated to the Holy Trinity.