The FINEST work of Matthias Braun

One of the top Baroque sculptors created his best work in Teplice.

There are not many Baroque monuments in Teplice but the most noticeable of them is worth visiting. The plague column of the Holy Trinity on Castle Square (Zámecké náměstí) is ranked among the top works of European Baroque sculpture.

Matthias Braun was born near Innsbruck, Tyrol. Cistercians that were based nearby soon recognised his carving and sculpting talents and sent him on the standard “Italian journey”. In Rome, the young artist was able to get acquainted with the relatively new works of Borromini and Bernini. Profoundly influenced by them, he set up his own workshop in Prague in 1710. He registered for the sculptors’ guild with his statuary of the Vision of St Luthgard, intended for Charles Bridge. His first work immediately secured him huge popularity, and the nobility continued to use his services from then on.

Although Braun created his most extensive collection for Count Franz Anton von Sporck, the commission by Teplice Count Franz Karl Clary-Aldringen for a plague column in 1718 also holds one first place: it is by far the tallest of all the master’s works.

The year 1718 was exceptionally fruitful for Braun and his workshop: in addition to the giant column in Teplice, the sculptor made famous statues for Sporck’s Kuks Castle, sculptural accessories for the organ and two altars for the Church of St Clement in Prague, the sculptural decorations for the palace and church in Cítoliby and sculptures for the Czernin Palace.

Matthias Bernard Braun is regularly mentioned among the top twenty Baroque sculptors. His finest work forms a key point in the town centre and is still regarded as an exquisite work of art today.