The first column of this type north of the Alps was the Mariensäule built in Munich in 1638 to celebrate the sparing of the city from both the invading Swedish army and the plague.
In 1855 Peter Fuchs returned to Cologne, where he created such large sandstone reliefs and statue groups as the Four Prophets (1858) for the Mariensäule in the Gereonsdriesch and the life-size figures of SS Dionysius and Reinold (1866–1871) for the west front of St. Mauritius.