Column of the Immaculate Conception

The Column of the Immaculate Conception is located in Piazza di Spagna, in the Campo Marzio district. The origins of this monument are rooted in the promulgation by Pope Blessed Pius IX Mastai Ferretti of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which took place on December 8, 1854, establishing that Mary was conceived without any sin and never committed any sin during her life. This is a very important dogma, promulgated during the years when the Immaculate Conception was at the center of two famous and venerated Marian apparitions: that of Rue de Bac in 1830 and, subsequently, that of Lourdes in 1858.
Thus, in 1854, when the dogma was approved, the Pope decided to celebrate the Immaculate Conception with a column, which he wanted placed near the Spanish Embassy, ​​since that country had been among those most active in its defense.
It was therefore decided to erect the monument in Piazza di Spagna.

The structure was designed by the architect Luigi Poletti and consists of a base supporting an 11.81-meter-high cipollino marble column with a Corinthian capital, on which rests a bronze statue of the Madonna, the work of the sculptor Giuseppe Obici.

The column was discovered in 1777 during excavations at the monastery of Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio. The following year, it was excavated and remained in Piazza Montecitorio.
At the corners of the base are four statues, depicting David (by Adamo Tadolini), Isaiah (by Salvatore Revelli), Ezekiel (by Carlo Chelli), and Moses (by Ignazio Giacometti).
The bas-reliefs on the base depict the Annunciation, Joseph's Dream, the Coronation of the Virgin, and the promulgation of the dogma in 1854.
The column was financed by Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies, as an act that symbolically ended the conflict between the Pope and Naples over the Chinea, the tax that the Kingdom of Naples historically paid to the Pope, who formally granted them the fiefdom.

The inauguration of the Column of the Immaculate Conception took place on September 8, 1857, and the work was completed by 220 firefighters led by architect Poletti.
At the ceremony, the Pope gave his Urbi et Orbi blessing from a stage specially constructed by architect Antonio Sarti on the façade of the Palazzo di Spagna. A false story, created by anticlerical circles then gaining traction in Rome, claims that Pius IX was not present because he was considered a jinx. In reality, there is no evidence to prove this; in fact, the photographs present attest to the opposite.

Beatus Pius XI inaugurated the column on 8 September 1857 from the neoclassical tribune built for him by Antonio Sarti

Every year, the Column of the Immaculate Conception is the focus of the December 8th celebrations for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Since 1923, firefighters have paid tribute with flowers to the statue of the Virgin Mary in memory of their 220 colleagues who inaugurated the monument.
Since December 8, 1953, the Pope has regularly attended the ceremony. That year, during the Marian Year for the centenary of the proclamation of the dogma, Pius XII paid homage to the statue of the Virgin Mary with a solemn visit.

The Spanish embassy, ​​in front of the Column of the Immaculate Conception, awaits the visit of Pope Francis with the Papal coat of arms and that of Spain