Pestsäule Engelhartszell

 
The plague column "Engelhartszeller Pestsäule" from 1510 reminds of the Black Death which raged several times through the market town. Documents report for the first time of it in 1348 when the Asian bubonic plague was introduced through Tyrol. During this year, because this misfortune wasn’t enough, Engelhartszell had to endure also an earthquake and a plague of locusts.
In 1484 the plague also raged severely through Engelhartszell and in 1570 it erased the whole population of the monastery “Stift Engelszell” within three weeks. In 1636 documents report for the last time of the Black Death in Engelhartszell. When in 1679 the plague erupted in Vienna, many of the residents flew to the safe market town by the Danube.