Charles Bridge is not a man called Bridge, but a bridge called
Charles. You should see it once, then come and see it again, and once
more, until you fully grasp its deep beauty.
At first it's just another old European stone bridge crowded with tourists
and statues. Maybe longer than others: 520 m (1700 ft). But forget
about the tourists and look at the statues. I mean, really look at
them. Most tourists cross the bridge and barely notice that the
statues are not only old, most of them are also very beautiful. Don't
stop, keep walking slowly and watch the first statue as it stands higher
and higher on its pedestal. You're coming close now, so you can only see
that statue above you, the sky behind it and nothing else. While you are walking
past the statue and still keeping your eyes on it, the statue seems to turn
around you, the baroque characters acquire life and get involved into a
kind of religious play. Ultimately you need to detach your eyes from them
and look in front of you again. Keep walking: there are 29 other statues
for you to look at.
What is also remarkable about the bridge is its position. On one side
of the river, the very large royal castle of Hradcany stands up on the
top of a hill, preceded by beautiful gardens and the urban area of Mala
Strana. On the other side, you get to the Old City, where every street
has ten or twenty interesting buildings. Under your feet, it's the
Vltava, more famous and easier to pronounce as the Moldau, an affluent
of the Elbe. Therefore the water under your feet will one day get to the
Baltic Sea, while the water that flows a few dozens kilometers on the
east of Prague goes to the Black Sea.
Charles Bridge was built in 1357 by Peter Parlir, the master builder
of Charles IV. St. John Nepomuk was thrown into the river from that
bridge by King Venceslas (Vaclav). According to what the Jesuits said
several centuries later, Nepomuk had been martyred because he had refused
to betray the secrets of the confessional. He became the symbol of Roman
Christianism against Protestantism. His statue is on the bridge.
As a reference, this is the list of the statues (from
http://members.aol.com/mpgregor/private/charles.htm). Most of them are
copies.
We are starting from the Mala Strana side...
St. Wenceslas, 1858 SS. Cosmas and Damian, 1709
SS. John, Felix, St. Vitus, the patron saint of dancers
and Ivan, 1704
St. Adalbert (Vojtech), St. Philip Benitius
the first bishop of Bohemia.
St. Lutigarde, 1710 St. Cajetan
St. Nicholas St. Augustine
SS. Vincent Ferrer St. Judas Thaddeus, 1708
and Procopius (one of Bohemia's
four patron saints)
St. Francis of Assisi St. Anthony of Padua
St. Ludmilla St. John of Nepomuk, the first
statue - 1683
St. Francis Borgia, SS Norbert, Wenceslas, Sigismund
a Jesuit general
St. Christopher, the patron St. John the Baptist
saint of raftsmen
St. Francis Xavier, a Cyril and Methodius, missionaries who
cofounder of Jesuit order introduced Christianity to the Slavs
St. Joseph, with Jesus St. Anne, Mary's mother
The lamenting of Christ (Pieta) 17th century Bronze crucifix,
originally of wood
SS. Barbara, Margaret, Elizabeth The Madonna, SS. Dominic
and Thomas Aquinas
St. Ives, the patron saint Madonna attending to St. Bernard
of flowers
We have arrived to the Old Town side now...
(Source: four days in Prague)