When the Swedes invaded Bavaria during the Thirty Years War, they left in their wake a plague epidemic that killed about a third of the population of Munich in 1634-5. To commemorate the victims, and in thanksgiving for the Swedish retreat, Elector Maximilian I erected a 36' marble column in the city's main square, topped by an 8' golden statue of the Virgin and Child. Adam von Gepeckh, Bishop of Freising, dedicated the Mariensäule, Mary's Column, on November 7, 1638, the Sunday after All Saints Day. An ardent devotee of St. Mary, Maximilian had recently proclaimed her Patroness of Bavaria. The column is not only the tourist landmark in the heart of historic Munich, but the 0 point for land surveying in Bavaria.
www.wherewewalked.info/feasts/11-November/11-07.htm