The statue of the Holy Trinity (“the plague monument”) and thUnirii Square fountain are positioned in the middle of Unirii Square.

The statue of the Holy Trinity  is considered to be the most outstanding monument of Baroque art creation in Timişoara. Presumably (based on stylistic analogies with other works) it is a creation of Viennese sculptor Georg Raphael Donner. It was commissioned by counselor Anton Deschan von Hansen.

It was brought to Timişoara from Vienna in 1740. The motivation for the monument (which must have cost a large sum for a city that was still far from prosperity) was the commemoration of the capital problems that had hit Timişoara during the war with the Turks from 1737 to 1739. Such monuments are very common during the Baroque period in the Catholic areas of Austria and southern Germany.

The monument’s base is a pedestal with three sides; on each side there are figurative reliefs representing in Baroque manner plague, famine and war. On the pedestal’s corners, namely on consoles supported on volutes, are statues of the saints Rochus, Sebastian (the one with the arrow) and Karl Borromeus.

Following is a column in itself; at its base St. Ioan of Nepomuk is represented, and below it there is St. Rozalia. At the same height as St. Nepomuk, but on the other sides of the column, there are King David and St. Barbara.

The column ends with an Ionic capital, on which the Holy Trinity thrones.

This statue was placed somewhere else in the beginning, too; in fact, it would not have been possible for it to be placed here since in 1740 Unirii Square was still a far from finished construction site.

The commissioner Deschan Von Hansen ordered the statue to be installed in 1740 in close vicinity to his house – approximately where Bega store is today. But it soon had to be moved – that land had just been purchased in 1752 by Baroness Rosina von Metzrad; after measurement, she intended to build here a house for herself so the monument had to be moved. At that time, Unirii Square was still in the process of construction.

Accordingly, an agreement was concluded between the city administration and Baroness von Metzrad: the statue was to be stored in pieces, in the Catholic Cathedral (which was also unfinished), following that at some point the Baroness had to reinstall the monument at her own expense in a place indicated by the administration. When finally the “primary square” (Unirii Square) was finished and an outstanding monument was needed in its center, the baroness did not condescend to meet her obligations; it seems that city administration was too weak in this fight. Thus, Empress Maria Theresa herself had to write the 1755 administration of Banat, saying “you will instruct in the most serious manner ... the above-named Baroness von Metzrad to install the column in the place indicated by You ... and you will obediently report the success”. And, as proof of success, lays evidence even today the statue in the middle of the square, in stylistic harmony with the surrounding buildings.