Maria Theresa was the first and only woman in the long line of Habsburg monarchs on the Czech throne. She visited Olomouc twice. In 1748 she visited the Hradisko Monastery with her husband František of Lorraine and in 1754 she attended the consecration of the Holy Trinity Column. The Terezín Gate, which has been preserved to this day, was named after her.
During her 40-year reign, she transformed the backward monarchy into a modern state thanks to her reforms. Maria Theresa took over at the age of 22 after the death of her father, Charles VI, under the so-called Pragmatic Sanction, which guaranteed succession by primogeniture in both the male and female line. However, the succession from her father was in a rather dismal state. Maria Theresa had to devote the first years of her reign mainly to war in order to defend the territory entrusted to her. During the First Silesian War of 1740-1742, she lost some Silesian territories. It turned out that the Olomouc fortress was the best suited for the defence of northern Moravia. However, it was in urgent need of modernisation. The author of the plans for the construction of the fortress was the military engineer de Rochepin. Work began in 1742. First, Maria Theresa’s husband, Franz Stephan of Lorraine, who had been the Reich Emperor since 1745, came to inspect the Olomouc fortifications. In the summer of 1748 he visited Olomouc again, this time with his wife. The programme of the imperial couple’s visit included, among other things, a visit to the Premonstratensian monastery Hradisko, during which a performance of a Haná singing group was organised. Maria Theresa and her husband visited Olomouc for the second time in September 1754 during their tour of Austria, Bohemia and Moravia. The couple attended the consecration ceremony of the Holy Trinity Column in Horní náměstí, as evidenced by the commemorative plaque above the entrance to the inner chapel. The street leading from the town hall (today’s Pavelčákova Street) was called Terezská Street from that time on, as was the newly built and still preserved town gate.
