1693The Plague's Column
Contrary to his brother Peter, Paul Strudel failed to enter the Imperial Court. This changed once the Plague Column in downtown Vienna had been completed under his direction in 1696. He then obtained a permanent position at court and was entrusted with the construction of a white Tyrolean marble gallery for the Habsburg emperor and his ancestors.
During work on the Plague Column, Paul Strudel had found (and had claimed the discovery of) the Tyrolean marble deposits in the area of Sterzing (Vipiteno) and in the Vinschgau. He employed over 20 workers, masons, four Italians sculptors, a stonecutter and a blacksmith, who under Dominik’s supervision would extract marble in the Vinschgau, presumably near Tafraz and Covelano.
The marble was transported to Hall, in Tyrol, by means of wagons and from there taken to Vienna on barges.
