St. Florian in the Roman Catholic faith is the saint that guards people from fires. Plungė was often ravaged by fires in the past and the inhabitants could not cope with the fiery disasters, so they turned to St. Florian, an experienced and wise fire fighter, for help. For this reason, a monument was placed in the centre of Plungė. The first monument of St. Florian was placed in 1894, following the fire of St. John's feast. Kazys Barzdys (1867–1952), a book smuggler and carver of religious statues from Plungė, carved the monument. During Soviet rule, the sculpture was taken down, but when Lithuania regained its independence, it was once again restored and consecrated on September 8th, 1990. The author of the new sculpture was folk artist Vladas Stumbras.
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