Saint Johann Nepomuk Monument


       Walking around the Freedom s Square we admired the surrounding
   buildings neglecting the baroc style statue placed in the middle
   of it. We can not leave further without stopping in front of it
   to admire it and find out some of its history. Scenes from the
   last part of the life of Saint Nepomuk are sculptured in stone
   on the three sides of the base. The queen of Bohemia hides a
   very intimate secret from her husband, king Wenceslav. Very
   upset because of this, the king asks Saint Nepomuk, the queen s
   confessor, to divulge the secret of confession.  Struck by the
   net refusal of the confessor, the king orders to throw him in
   the Vltava river. The central figure of the monument is Saint
   Nepomuk, above whom the Mother of the Lord is sitting on the
   throne, holding a cross and lily flowers, the symbol of
   innocence. The monument, the masterpiece of the Viennese
   sculptors F. Blim and E. Wasserburger, was raised in front of
   the Old City Hall in 1756 [23].

       On April 3, 1724, at Timisoara, was founded the brotherhood
   dedicated to the immaculate Saint Mary and Saint Nepomuk. The
   main purpose of the brotherhood, besides the veneration of the
   Saint Virgin and the Mother of the Lord, was to keep a high
   social moral, to practice the Christian charity for the poor,
   sick, prisoners, and other unfortunate people. The Saint
   Nepomuk Hospital (1735) was built 11 years after the brotherhood
   came to life from the voluntary  contributions of this
   association [24].

       It is believed that the first statue of Saint Nepomuk, the
   patron of Banat, was built near the Franciscan church
   immediately after the liberation of Timisoara from the Turk
   occupation. As written in the chronicle of the Jesuits, who
   administered the parish, in the year 1722, on May 16, the first
   litany was sung in front of this statue. The devastating plague
   epidemic from the years 1738-1739 brought more often believers
   to pray in front of this religious monument. On May 31, 1739,
   the Cenad bishop held a thank you service with the occasion of
   plague epidemic ending in front of the monument; that s why the
   name of it until today is the Plague monument. The brotherhood
   of Saint Mary and Saint Nepomuk promised from the beginning to
   take care of this monument, and probably because the initial
   statue arrived into a deplorable state, the brotherhood ordered
   the actual monument in Vienna, which, after being manufactured,
   was raised in front of the Old City Hall (1753-1756). After
   almost 100 years, it s proof written in 1852, the statue was
   moved in front of one the gates of the Transilvania garrison.

       The garrison was demolished in 1964, the Continental hotel was
   built, and only in 1974, by the space enlargement needed around
   the hotel, it just happened the monument was moved back in front
   of the Old City Hall on its initial place. During its absence,
   on the same place it used to be another monument built in the
   memory of the heroically defense of the fortress during the
   siege from the year 1848, as Preyer, the city historian, says.

      The monument was designed by the architect Josef Kranner, the
   brick foundation was laid by the Emperor Franz Josef I himself
   on June 15, 1852, the festive inauguration being held on January
   17, 1853. The monument was 20 meters tall, created in Mediaeval
   Gothic style, its base representing fortifications, on top of
   which a canopy held by four horses was rising; in the middle of
   it there was the central figure symbolizing the Fidelity; on top
   of the canopy there was a slim roof ended with a double flower.
   The Fidelity Statue was flanked by four other statues
   representing the Honesty, the Obedience, the Vigilance, and the
   Sacrifice. All these symbols were removed a long the years, the
   last removed statue was the Fidelity, in 1932, the monument
   remaining to represent the tendency to rise [25].  The monument
   was moved, in 1936, to its actual location in Cimitirul Eroilor,
   or the Cemetery of the Heroes.