The Castle Home: Charles Bridge/Karluv Most

Finally on our fourth day in Prague, Audra and I went out early to walk on the Charles Bridge before the crowds and vendors...

The Charles Bridge was commissioned by Charles IV in 1357, completed in 1390 and made into a pedestrian-only bridge after WWII.

The first monument to be placed on the bridge was the crucifix near Old Town in 1657. The first statue was St. John of Nepomuk (1683)... there are now 30 statues on the bridge. Most statues were made of soft sand stone and have been replaced by replicas due to weathering.

Mala Strana tower (mid-15th century) built to imitate the Stare Mesto tower

Mala Strana side of Charles Bridge 'early morning'

tower detail

Mala Strana tower - advancing Swedish armies stole the statues from the tower on this side of the bridge but were stopped by the Prague students and Jewish ghetto residents at the end of the 30 Year War (1618-1648)

Czech name of Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge during the day

9am

Saints Cosmas and Damian with Christ (1709) - Third-century physician brothers

St. Wenceslas (1858) - Patron saint of Bohemia

St. Vitus (1714) Patron saint of Prague

Saints John of Matha, Felix of Valois (1714) 12th-century French founders of the Trinitarian Order

St. Phillip Benizi (1714) Miracle worker and healer

St. Adalbert (1709) Prague's first Czech bishop

St. Cajetan ((1709) Italian founder of the Theatine order

The Vision of Saint Luitgard (1710) in which Christ appears to the blind saint and allows her to kiss his wounds

Saint Augustine (1708) reformed hedonist, theological fountainhead of the Reformation, and patron saint of brewers

Saint Nicholas of Tolentino (1706) patron of Holy Souls

Saint Jude Thaddaeus (1708) patron saint of hopeless causes

Saint Anthony of Padua (1707) a disciple of St. Francis of Assisi

Saint Francis Seraphinus (1855) patron of the poor and abandoned

Saint Wenceslas (1730) as a boy with his grandmother and guardian Saint Ludmilla, patroness of Bohemia

Saint John of Nepomuk (1683) patron saint of Czechs - the most famous statue on Charles Bridge. Legend states that Wenceslas IV had St. John of Nepomuk trussed and thrown off the bridge for not divulging the queen's confessions. Tradition is to rub the bronze plaque ensuring that you will one day return to Prague.

Saint Wenceslas (1853) with Saint Sigismund, of Charles IV and Saint Norbert, 12th-century German founder of the Premonstratensian order

Saint John the Baptist (1857)

Saints Cyril and Methodius (1938) introduced Christianity and a written script (Cyrillic) to the Slavs in the 9th century

Saint Christopher (1857) patron saint of travellers

Saint Francis Xavier (1711) 16th-century Spanish missionary celebrated for his work in the Orient

Saint Anne (mother of the Virgin Mary) with Madonna and child (1707)

Saint Joseph (1854) husband of the Virgin Mary

Pieta (1859) Mary holding the body of Christ following crucifixion

Crucifix (1657) with an invocation in Hebrew saying 'holy, holy, holy Lord' (funded by the fine of a Jew who had mocked it in 1696)

Madonna with Saint Dominic (1709) Spanish founder of the Dominicans with Saint Thomas Aquinas

Saint Barbara - patron saint of miners, Saint Margaret - patron saint of expectant mothers and Saint Elizabeth - Slavic princess who renounced the good life to service the poor (1707)