Victory column

19th-century comparison between the Alexander Column, the Column of the Grande Armée, Trajan's Column, the Column of Marcus Aurelius, and "Pompey's Pillar"

A victory column, or monumental column or triumphal column, is a monument in the form of a column, erected in memory of a victorious battle, war, or revolution. The column typically stands on a base and is crowned with a victory symbol, such as a statue. The statue may represent the goddess Victoria; in Germany, the female embodiment of the nation, Germania; in the United States either female embodiment of the nation Liberty or Columbia; in the United Kingdom, the female embodiment Britannia, an eagle, or a war hero.

Monumental columns

Image	Date	Monument	City	Location	Height above ground	Comment
	478 BC	Serpent Column	Istanbul	Hippodrome of Constantinople	8 m	Originally part of a tripod at Delphi
	115 BC	Heliodorus Pillar	Vidisha	Madhya Pradesh, Central India		Erected around 113 BCE in central India in Vidisha (then known as Besnagar), by Heliodorus, a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas the court of the Shunga king Bhagabhadra
	c. 65	Great Column of Jupiter	Mainz	Landesmuseum Mainz	12.5 m	Replica displayed in front of the Landtag
	113	Trajan's Column	Rome	Trajan's Forum	35.07 m	Internal spiral staircase, external helical frieze of reliefs. Tomb of the honorand, Trajan. Archetype of victory column.
	161	Column of Antoninus Pius	Rome	Campus Martius	14.75 m	Monolithic granite column shaft, c. 14.8 m. Only the base now survives.
	Before 193	Column of Marcus Aurelius	Rome	Piazza Colonna	39.72 m	Internal spiral staircase, external helical frieze of reliefs. Directly modelled on Trajan's Column
	c. 200	Column at the end of the Via Appia	Brindisi	Near the port	18.74 m
	Between 268 and 337	Column of the Goths	Istanbul	Gülhane Park	18.5 m
	298-302	Pompey's Pillar	Alexandria	Serapeum of Alexandria	26.85 m	Entirely unconnected with Pompey. Dedicated to Diocletian by Aelius Publius, the governor of Aegyptus, between 298 and 302. Monolithic granite column shaft, 20.75 m. Corinthian capital. Originally topped with a statue of the augustus in porphyry, c. 7 m. Possibly accompanied by smaller columns honouring of Diocletian's co-emperors.
	11 May 330	Column of Constantine	Istanbul	Forum of Constantine, Çemberlitaş, Fatih	35 m	Upper portion of the column has not survived.
	330-400	Column of Phocas	Rome	Roman Forum	13.6 m	Column originally fourth century, Constantinian dynasty or after; imitating the Column and Forum of Constantine in Constantinople. Monolithic fluted marble column shaft. Corinthian capital. Rededicated to Phocas by Smaragdus, the Exarch of Italy, in 608 with an inscription and gilded statue of that augustus; last addition to the Forum Romanum.
	386-393/'4	Column of Theodosius	Istanbul	Forum of Theodosius, Fatih	c. 50 m	Largest Roman column monument. Internal spiral staircase, external helical frieze of reliefs. Originally topped in 393/'4 with a statue of Theodosius I in bronze. The statue fell in an earthquake in 480. Rededicated to Anastasius I in 506 with a new bronze statue. Demolished 16th century; precise site in Theodoisus's Forum unknown.
	c. 400	Iron pillar of Delhi	Delhi	Qutb Complex	7.12 m	It was transferred from Udayagiri or Vidisha to Delhi in the 11th century by Iltutmish the Sultan of Delhi. It was originally erected by the Samrat Ashoka the Great.
	401-421	Column of Arcadius	Istanbul	Forum of Arcadius, Fatih	c. 46.1 m	Internal spiral staircase, external helical frieze of reliefs. 21 monolithic column drums. Doric capital. Originally topped with a statue of Arcadius, c. 8.5 m, similar to the statue on the Column of Theodosius. The statue fell in an earthquake in 740. Demolished 1719; only the base, c. 10.5 m, survives.
	450-452	Column of Marcian	Istanbul	Forum of Marcian, Fatih	c. 16.5 m (present)	Dedicated to Marcian by Tatianus, prefect of Constantinople between 450 and 452. Monolithic granite column shaft, 8.74 m. Corinthian capital. Originally topped with a statue of the augustus, referred to in the inscription and lost at an unknown date.
	457-474	Column of Leo	Istanbul	Forum of Leo Fatih	21–26 m	Built in the reign of Leo I. Eight marble column drums, decorated with wreaths. Corinthian capital. Originally topped with a statue of the augustus. Destroyed before the 1540s; fragments remain in the grounds of the Topkapı Palace. The imperial statue on top may survive in Italy as the Colossus of Barletta.
	543	Column of Justinian	Istanbul	Augustaeum, Fatih		Masonry column shaft decorated with wreaths next to Hagia Sophia. Colossal equestrian statue in bronze reused from a Theodosian monument. c. 7 m statue. Column's bronze sheath removed after the Fourth Crusade's1204 Sack of Constantinople. Statue removed soon after 1453 Fall of Constantinople. Toppled by Ottomans in 1515. Socle and statue destroyed in 1529.
	595	Mahakuta Pillar	Mahakuta
	c. 850	Pillar of Eliseg		Near Valle Crucis Abbey
	983	Tyagada Brahmadeva Pillar	Shravanabelagola		2.3 m
	c. 1000	Bernward Column	Hildesheim	Hildesheim Cathedral	3.79 m
	11th century	Heunensäule	Mainz	Markt	6.4 m
	after 1244	Colonna di Santa Felicita	Florence	In front of Santa Felicita
	1268	Columns of San Marco and San Todaro	Venice	Piazza San Marco
	Before 1333	Colonna di San Zanobi	Florence	Piazza San Giovanni
	1338	Colonna della Croce al Trebbio	Florence
	1431	Colonna dell'Abbondanza	Florence	Piazza della Repubblica
	1 March 1467	Siena	Viale Vittorio Emanuele II
	1548?	Pestsäule	Eching am Ammersee		2 m
	1565	Colonna della Giustizia	Florence	Piazza Santa Trinita		Spolia from the 3rd century AD Baths of Caracalla in Rome
	1572	Colonna di San Felice	Florence	In front of San Felice
	1572	Colonna di San Marco	Florence	In front of San Marco	12.9 m
	1574	Alameda Hércules column. Roman columns with statues of Hercules (inspired by the Farnese Hercules) and Julius Caesar	Seville	In front of La Alameda, Seville	10 m
	1574	Medici column	Paris	In front of Paris Bourse	28 m
	1614	Column of Peace	Rome	Piazza del Esqualino, in front of Santa Maria Maggiore	42 m	Spolia from the 4th century AD Basilica of Maxentius
	1627	Colonna di San Domenico	Bologna	San Domenico
	31 May 1628	Column of Infamy	Genoa	Piazza Vacchero
	1628	Colonna dell'Immacolata	Bologna
	7 November 1638	Mariensäule	Munich	Marienplatz
	1644	Sigismund's Column	Warsaw	Castle Square	22 m
	1647	Mariensäule	Wernstein am Inn		17 m	Transferred from original site in Vienna in 1667.
	1650	Mary Column	Prague	Old Town Square	16 m	Destroyed in 1918
	1654	Victory Column	Kronach
	1656	Countess Pillar	Near Brougham
	1666	Colonna di Sant'Oronzo	Lecce			Originally one of the columns at the end of the Via Appia in Brindisi
	1673	Verziere Column	Milan	Verziere
	1674	Mariensäule	Freising	Marienplatz
	1675	Monument to Ludovico Ariosto	Ferrara	Piazza Ariostea
	1677	The Monument	London	Corner of Monument Street and Fish Street Hill	62 m
	1679	Beschornerkreuz	Vienna	Favoritenstraße		Badly damaged in World War II and replaced in 1979.
	1680	Dreifaltigkeitssäule	Klagenfurt am Wörthersee	In front of the Church of the Holy Spirit
	1681	Column of the Blessed Virgin Mary	Kłodzko		11.5m
	1683	Dreifaltigkeitssäule	Vienna	Landstraße
	1693	Pestsäule	Vienna	Graben
	1694	Kolumna Maryjna	Prudnik	Town Square
	1698	Kolumna Maryjna	Międzylesie
	26 July 1706	St Anna's Column	Innsbruck	Maria-Theresien-Straße
	1714	Pestsäule	Mödling
	1715	Column of the Virgin Mary Immaculate	Kutná Hora	Šultysova street
	1715?	Dreifaltigkeitssäule	Poysdorf
	2 December 1717	Mariensäule	Ochsenhausen	Ochsenhausen Abbey
		Blenheim Column of Victory		Blenheim Palace	41 m
	1723	Dreifaltigkeitssäule	Linz	Hauptplatz	20 m
	1723	Immaculata	Košice	Hlavná ulica	14 m
	1724	Pestsäule	Bleiburg
	1727	Kolumna Maryjna	Racibórz	Town Square	14 m
	1728	Colonna dell'Immacolata	Palermo	Piazza San Domenico
	23 November 1730	Coloana Ciumei	Timișoara	Piața Unirii
	1732	Mariensäule	Aub	Marktplatz
	1739	Statue of St Nepomuk and Mary	Timișoara	Piața Libertății
	9 March 1742	Pomnik Trójcy Świętej	Lądku-Zdroju		7 m
	After 1746	Kolumna Trójcy Świętej	Bystrzyca Kłodzka		10 m
	1749	The Grenville Column		Stowe House
	1754	Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc	Olomouc		35 m
	1767	Burton Pynsent Monument	Curry Rivel	Troy Hill	43 m
	1770	Eagle Column	Gatchina
	1778	Mariensäule	Nordheim am Main
	1778	Chesme Column	Tsarskoye Selo	Catharine Palace
	After 1778	Keppel's Column		Near Wentworth and Kimberworth	35 m
	15 August 1802	Monument to the Magdeburg Rights	Kyiv	Podil Raion	23 m
	August 1809	Nelson's Pillar	Dublin	O'Connell Street	40.8 m	Destroyed in 1966 by Irish Republicans
	1809	Nelson's Column	Montreal	Place Jacques-Cartier	19 m
	15 August 1810	Colonne Vendôme	Paris	Place Vendôme	44.3 m
	1811	Rostral Columns	Saint Petersburg	Old Saint Petersburg Stock Exchange
	27 June 1811	Glory Monument	Poltava		10.35 m
	1814	Camphill Coumn	Alnwick
	1816	Column of the Duchess of Angoulême	Angoulême
	1816	Tenantry Column	Alnwick		25 m
	18 June 1816	Lord Hill's Column	Shrewsbury	Outside the Shirehall	40.7 m
	1819	Britannia Monument	Great Yarmouth		44 m
	1821	Column of the Grande Armée	Wimille	Rue Napoleon	53 m
	1823	Column of Louis XVI	Nantes	Place Maréchal-Foch	28 m
	1823	Column of the Duchess of Angoulême	Saint-Florent-le-Vieil		15 m
	4 September 1823	Column of the Pope	Nice
	1826	Column of Charles Felix	Bonneville
	6 March 1829	Demidovsky Pillar	Yaroslavl		12 m	Dismantled 1935, rebuilt 2004.
	1829	Washington Monument	Baltimore	Mount Vernon	54 m
	1831	Duke of York Column	London	Corner of Regent Street and The Mall	41.99 m
	1835	Admiral Hood Monument	Compton Dundon		33.5 m
	18 June 1832	Waterloo Column	Hanover	Waterlooplatz	46.31 m
	1833	La Consulaire	Brest	Arsenal	7 m	Transformed from a captured Barbary cannon.
	30 August 1834	Alexander Column	Saint Petersburg	Palace Square	47.5 m
	28 July 1840	July Column	Paris	Place de la Bastille	47 m
	November 1843	Nelson's Column	London	Trafalgar Square	51.6 m
	25 August 1844	Column of Louis I of Hesse	Darmstadt	Luisenplatz	39.5 m
	1845	Column of the Goddess	Lille	Grand Place	15.5 m
	1845	Monument to the Third Council of Trent	Trento	North of Santa Maria Maggiore
	22 December 1851	Columna de la Libertad de los Esclavos	Ocaña
	15 October 1854 & 1855	Prussia Columns	Rügen	Neukamp and Groß Stresow	15 m	Dismantled for repair in 1991 and never rebuilt.
	1856	Brock's Monument	Queenston		56 m
	8 December 1857	Column of the Immaculate Conception	Rome	Piazza di Spagna	11.81 m
	September 1858	Mariensäule	Cologne
	26 September 1859	Congress Column	Brussels	Place du Congrès	47 m
	1861	Westminster Scholars War Memorial	London	In front of Westminster Abbey
	1865	Wellington's Column	Liverpool	Corner of William Brown Street and Lime Street	40.2 m
	8 October 1866	Mariensäule	Trier	Markusberg	40 m
	20 February 1867	Columna de la Paz	Montevideo	Plaza de Cagancha
	1868	Polnische Freiheitssäule	Rapperswil	Rapperswil Castle
	1 June 1869	Soldiers' National Monument		Gettysburg Battlefield	18 m
	4 July 1870	Civil War Memorial	Adrian	Memorial Park		Recycled from the Bank of Pennsylvania
	1873	Mariensäule	Düsseldorf	Maxplatz
	2 September 1873	Berlin victory column	Berlin	Großer Stern	66.89 m
	1874	Column of Pedro IV	Lisbon	Rossio Square	27.5 m
	4 July 1874	Soldiers and Sailors Monument	Lancaster, Pennsylvania	Penn Square	13 m
	2 December 1874	Victory Column	Schwerin		23 m
	17 September 1877	Soldiers and Sailors Monument	Boston	Boston Common	38 m
	2 September 1879	Hakenberg Victory Column	Hakenberg		36 m
	1880	Mariensäule	Munich	Pasing
	1881	Soldier's Monument	Davenport	College Square Historic District	15.25 m
	4 July 1884	Soldiers and Sailors Monument	Buffalo	Lafayette Square	33.7 m
	1886	Ivar Huitfeldt Column	Copenhagen	Langelinie
	1887	Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument	New Haven	East Rock	34 m
	1888	Columbus Monument	Barcelona	La Rambla	60 m
	24 June 1889	Column of the Plaza Bolivar	Valencia	Plaza Bolívar (Valencia)
	1891	Alexander II Column	Odessa	Shevchenko Park	12.6 m
	4 July 1894	Cuyahoga County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument	Cleveland	Public Square	38 m
	1894	Column of Alexander II	Rostov-on-Don		11 m
	1900	Millenium Monument	Budapest	Hősök tere	36 m
	1904	Mariensäule	Appelhülsen		5.4 m
	30 October 1904	Column of Adam-Mickiewicz	Lviv	Stare Misto	21 m
	15 November 1908	Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument	Brooklyn	Fort Greene Park	45 m
	1909	Mariensäule	Bolzano
	1910	Monument to the Viscount of Mauá	Rio de Janeiro	Praça Mauá	8 m
	16 September 1910	El Ángel	Mexico City	Paseo de la Reforma	45 m
	1911	India de El Paraíso	Caracas	Intersection of Páez, O'Higgins, Teherán and Principal de La Vega
	20 October 1912	Monumento a las Batallas de Jaén	Jaén	Parque de la Concordia	12 m
	1915	Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial		Put-in-Bay	107 m	World's tallest doric column
	1916	Columna a los Mártires	Tunja	Plazoleta de San Laureano
	1920	Sanjan Stambh	Sanjan		15 m
	20 March 1921	Bromley Parish Church Memorial	London	Bromley	5 m
	15 June 1921	Monumento a Cristóbal Colón	Buenos Aires	Parque Colón	26 m
	1923	Colonne de la Victoire	Saint-Denis	Corner of the Avenue de la Victoire and the Rue de Paris
	1924	Jacint Verdaguer Monument	Barcelona	Plaza de Mosén Jacint Verdaguer	21.6
	1926	Astoria Column	Astoria	City Park	38 m
	30 October 1932	Monumento alla Vittoria	Forlì	Piazzale della Vittoria	32 m
	18 November 1935	Freedom Monument	Riga	Freedom Boulevard	42 m
	1 August 1937	Meuse-Argonne American Memorial	Montfaucon-d'Argonne	60 m
	27 October 1938	Endless Column	Târgu Jiu	Ensemble	29.3 m
	24 June 1941	Victory Monument	Bangkok	Traffic circle of Phahonyothin Road, Phaya Thai Road, and Ratchawithi Road	50m
	1944	Monumento de Santiago	Santiago de los Caballeros		67 m
	1948	Iglica	Wroclaw	96 m		Originally 106 m tall
	1951	Monumento aos Heróis da Guerra Peninsular	Porto	Rotunda da Boavista	45 m
	1953	Doyle Monument	Guernsey	Jerbourg Point		Replacing an earlier column demolished during the German occupation.
	1957	Cenotaph for the Friendship Between China and USSR	Lüshun		22.2 m
	12 July 1975	Monas	Jakarta	Merdeka Square	132 m
	1985	National Capitol Columns	Washington, D.C.	National Arboretum		Originally from the portico of the United States Capitol
	2001	Independence Monument	Kyiv	Maidan Nezalezhnosti	63 m
	15 September 2003	Ángel de la Libertad	Chihuahua City	Plaza Mayor	35 m
	2004	Column of Glory	Saint Petersburg	Trinity Cathedral	29 m	Replaces an identical column, destroyed in 1929
	27 March 2004	Thanksgiving Candle	Soroca		29.5 m
	15 April 2005	Cocking History Column	Cocking		4.57 m
	10 May 2006	Column of the Archangel Michael	Sochi		20 m
	23 June 2009	War of Independence Victory Column	Tallinn	Freedom Square	23.5 m
	2010	The Four Columns	Barcelona	Near the Magic Fountain of Montjuïc	20 m	Replace originals, which were demolished in 1928.

See also

• Record-holding columns in antiquity
• List of Roman obelisks
• List of Roman spiral stairs
• List of Roman triumphal arches
• Iaat, near Baalbek, Lebanon.
• List of Roman victory columns
• Obelisk
• Rostral column
• Triumphal arch

Bibliography

Part of this page is based on the article Siegessäule in the German-language Wikipedia.

• Adam, Jean-Pierre (1977), "À propos du trilithon de Baalbek: Le transport et la mise en oeuvre des mégalithes", Syria, 54 (1/2): 31–63 (50f.), doi:10.3406/syria.1977.6623
• Gehn, Ulrich (2012). "LSA-2458: Demolished spiral column once crowned by colossal statue of Theodosius I, emperor; later used for statue of Anastasius, emperor. Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius (Tauros). 386-394 and 506". Last Statues of Antiquity. Oxford University. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
• Gehn, Ulrich (2012). "LSA-2459: Demolished spiral column once crowned by colossal statue of Arcadius, emperor. Constantinople, Forum of Arcadius. 401-21". Last Statues of Antiquity. Oxford University. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
• Jones, Mark Wilson (1993), "One Hundred Feet and a Spiral Stair: The Problem of Designing Trajan's Column", Journal of Roman Archaeology, 6: 23–38, doi:10.1017/S1047759400011454
• Jones, Mark Wilson (2000), Principles of Roman Architecture, Yale University Press, ISBN 0-300-08138-3

Further reading

• Beckmann, Martin (2002), "The 'Columnae Coc(h)lides' of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius", Phoenix, 56 (3/4): 348–357, doi:10.2307/1192605, JSTOR 1192605

External links

Media related to Triumph columns at Wikimedia Commons