Holy Trinity Column in Jáchymov

The Holy Trinity Column in Jáchymov is a tall Baroque votive monument standing at the upper end of the town square, directly in front of the south facade of the Church of St. Joachim. Erected in 1703 by the local miners' guild, it remains one of the most distinctive landmarks of this small town in the Ore Mountains, famous for its silver and uranium mining history.

Where exactly does the column stand?

The monument stands in the upper, north-western part of Jáchymov, on the square in front of the Church of St. Joachim — the first Lutheran church built in Bohemia, constructed between 1534 and 1540. This part of town is sometimes recorded as Nové Město, one of Jáchymov's five constituent parts (alongside Jáchymov proper, Mariánská, Suchá and Vršek) rather than a separate settlement — for a visitor, simply the upper section of the historic centre, right next to the church.

Who erected the column, and when?

The column was funded in 1703 by the local miners' association — the havířský spolek. In a town whose entire economy rested on silver extraction, it was the miners themselves who paid for this monumental religious column, a type typically raised across Central Europe as a votive offering of thanks for the end of an epidemic or other calamity. Such Trinity and plague columns were common throughout the Baroque period, and the Jáchymov example counts among the better-preserved ones in the Karlovy Vary region.

What does the monument look like?

The structure rests on three granite steps quarried from the Ore Mountains, supporting a tall pedestal and a slender granite column with a Corinthian capital. The sculptural group at the top, carved from fine-grained sandstone, depicts the Holy Trinity in the iconographic type known as the "Throne of Grace" (Gnadenstuhl): God the Father seated on a throne, holding the cross with the crucified Christ, with the Holy Spirit hovering below as a dove. Figures of the Immaculate Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Anne, and the town's patron saint, St. Joachim, complete the composition.

What happened to the column over the past three centuries?

After 1945, following the expulsion of the region's German-speaking population, the monument stopped receiving regular upkeep and gradually deteriorated — a fate shared by many sacred monuments in the Czech borderlands during that period. Not until 2004 did the town of Jáchymov carry out a full restoration, returning the column to its original appearance. Today it serves as a landmark of the upper town and a stop on any walk through the historic centre.

Why is Jáchymov such an unusual town?

Jáchymov was founded in 1516 after the discovery of rich silver deposits, and just three years later it began minting the famous "Joachimsthaler" — the coin whose name eventually gave rise to the word "dollar." At the height of the silver rush, in 1534, Jáchymov was the second most populous town in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Local pitchblende ore led Marie and Pierre Curie to discover polonium and radium here in 1898, and in 1906 the town opened the world's first radon spa, still operating today. During the Second World War and the communist era that followed, Jáchymov became a centre of intensive uranium mining for the Soviet Union, carried out partly through forced labour in prison camps.

Frequently asked questions

When was the column built? In 1703, funded by the local miners' guild.

Where exactly does it stand? On the square in front of the Church of St. Joachim, in upper Jáchymov; this area is sometimes labelled Nové Město, though it is a constituent part of Jáchymov, not a separate settlement.

What does the sculptural group on top show? The Holy Trinity as the "Throne of Grace" — God the Father with the cross and the Holy Spirit as a dove — plus figures of the Virgin Mary, St. Joseph, St. Anne, and St. Joachim.

Has it been restored? Yes, after decades of neglect the town carried out a complete restoration in 2004.

Why is Jáchymov famous? For 16th-century silver mining (which gave the world the word "dollar"), the Curies' discovery of polonium and radium here, the world's first radon spa, and later uranium mining.