Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge is the oldest stone bridge in Europe. It had been constructed from 1357 to 1400. Until 1841, this was the only bridge to connect old street of Prague. It also played an very important role as the trade route between East and West zone of Prague. At first, it was called just "Stone Bridge" or "Praha Bridge." But it had the name of "Charles Bridge" since 1870.

Description

The bridge is 516 meters in length and 10 meters in width. Also, it has 16 arches. At a railing of the bridge, there are thirty sculptures of saint who are famous in the Bible and History. Except the sculpture of "Jan Hus", all of sculptures are made of sandstone. Some sculptures were made in the "Age of Baroque" but most of sculptures were imitated.

Legend

There has been legends about this bridge. One legend says that if a person touches the statue of Sanctus Loannes Nepomucenus saying the hope, the hope will come true. This is because Nepomucenus was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia. But one day king wanted to know what the queen confessed. This was because the king had a doubt that the queen had an affair with another man. However, Nepomucenus did not tell anything to king and resisted to the bitter end. So the king made Nepomucenus fall in the river. So Nepomucenus got drowned. However, He was respected as the Saint right after his death.

Photo gallery

Charles Bridge - Karlův most

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