The Column of the Immaculate Conception is located in the middle of the Piazza Mignanelli, right next to Piazza di Spagna and the Palazzo di Propaganda Fide (the seat of one of Rome’s latest museums) and opposite the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See.
Colonna dell’Immacolata Rome
The column was constructed by the architect Luigi Poletti and inaugurated on December 8, 1857, with the help of no fewer than 220 firemen.
The structure consists of a marble base, the 12m tall column itself, which is actually older and was discovered by chance during excavations in the Campus Marzius, and a bronze statue of the Madonna, which is the work of Giuseppe Obici.
The 4 bronze statues on the base of the column depict Moses (made by Ignazio Jacometti), David (by Adamo Tadolini), Ezekiel (by Carlo Chelli) and Isaiah (Salvatore Revelli).
It is dedicated to the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854. According to this dogma Madonna is the only human being born free of original sin.
Every year on December 8 the festivities of the Immaculate Conception are celebrated. The Pope comes to bless the statue and those attending and the Fire Brigade, with the aid of a crane, puts a garland of flowers around the Madonna’s neck.