Prague – Charles Bridge

The Czech king Charles IV ordered to lay the foundation stone of the new stone bridge over Vltava in 1357 on the 9th day of the 7th month at 5:31 AM. It is said, Charles IV chose this time so that when one writes out the opening time, one writes the sequence of odd numbers, 1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1. The Charles Bridge is the oldest in Prague, it is 515 m. long and 9,5m. wide. Gradually it was decorated with 30 sculptures and sculptural groups and 3 towers were added to its construction. From the side of the Lesser Town it is the bigger and the smaller Lesser Town Tower. On the side of the Old Town we can see the Old Town Tower.

From 1883 there was a horse line, so called koňka on the bridge, which was replaced with an electric tram in 1905. The trams were too heavy for the bridge construction, so they were replaced by buses in 1908. It was also no ideal solution, so the traffic was stopped the next year and restarted in the year 1932 with pneumatic tyre buses. Public transport on the bridge existed till the World War II, car traffic was ended in the year 1965.

The avenue of 30 statues and statuaries situated on the balustrade forms a unique connection. Most sculptures were erected between 1706 and 1714. The oldest still-standing statue in its original form is St.John of Nepomuk from 1683, the youngest from all is the statuary of St.Cyril and St.Methodius, installed in 1928.

Damage caused to the statues over many years by damaging floods and weather influences has resulted in many of the originals being replaced by replicas, and the originals have been exhibited in the lapidarium of the National Museum and exhibition hall Gorlice in Vyšehrad. Most of the statues are made of sandstone, St.Philip Benicius is made of marble and the Crucifix and Calvary and St. John of Nepomuk are made of bronze.

South side of the bridge