Charles Bridge, Prague: Charles IV's Gothic Bridge of 1357

Charles Bridge is the medieval stone bridge over the Vltava river in Prague, begun in 1357 under Emperor Charles IV. For nearly five centuries it was the only bridge in the city, linking the Old Town with the Lesser Town and Prague Castle. With its Gothic towers and lines of Baroque statues, it is one of the best-known landmarks in Central Europe.

Background: Prague and the Judith Bridge

Prague grew up on both banks of the Vltava. From the twelfth century the two halves were joined by the Judith Bridge, one of the earliest stone bridges in Central Europe, built around 1158–1172 and named after Queen Judith, wife of King Vladislaus II. In 1342 a flood with ice floes badly damaged it, and the city needed a new crossing.

The timing suited Charles IV. King of Bohemia from 1346 and Holy Roman Emperor from 1355, he was turning Prague into an imperial capital. He founded the university in 1348, laid out the New Town the same year, began the Gothic St Vitus Cathedral and, in 1356, issued the Golden Bull, which confirmed Bohemia’s place among the electors of the empire. The city kept growing under his son Wenceslas IV, and the Old Town’s astronomical clock followed in 1410.

Construction

According to tradition, Charles laid the foundation stone on 9 July 1357. A popular story claims the ceremony was held at 5.31 in the morning so that the date and time formed the palindrome 1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1, but no medieval source records the hour.

The design is attributed to Peter Parler, a master builder from a German family of masons whom Charles had brought to Prague to lead work on the cathedral. The bridge took about fifty years to finish and was completed around 1402. It is about 516 metres long and about 10 metres wide, and rests on 16 arches. It was built mostly of sandstone blocks.

A well-known legend says that villages across Bohemia sent eggs, and in some versions milk and wine, to be mixed into the mortar to strengthen it. Analyses of the mortar have produced inconclusive results, and the story remains unproven.

The bridge towers

The Old Town Bridge Tower, at the eastern end, is considered one of the finest Gothic towers in Europe. Built under Parler’s workshop, its eastern face carries sculptures of St Vitus with Charles IV and his son Wenceslas IV, and the coats of arms of the lands they ruled. It served as both a fortified gate and a triumphal arch on the coronation route of the Bohemian kings.

At the western end, two towers of different heights guard the entrance to the Lesser Town. The lower one survives from the earlier Judith Bridge.

Statues and saints

In the Middle Ages the bridge had only a simple cross. The first statue, a bronze of St John of Nepomuk, was installed in 1683. John of Nepomuk was a priest who was thrown from the bridge and drowned in 1393 on the orders of King Wenceslas IV, and he became one of the most popular saints of the Counter-Reformation.

Between 1683 and 1714 some 30 statues and groups of saints were set up along the parapets, many by the sculptors Matthias Braun and the Brokoff family. Most of the originals have since been replaced by copies to protect them from weathering.

A stage for history

As the city’s only crossing, the bridge saw many dramatic moments. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the heads of rebel leaders executed in the Old Town Square on 21 June 1621 were displayed on the Old Town Bridge Tower. In 1648, at the very end of the Thirty Years’ War, Swedish troops seized the Lesser Town and fought Prague’s defenders on the bridge, but failed to cross it.

The bridge carried all traffic between the two halves of Prague until a second bridge opened in 1841. A flood in 1890 destroyed several arches, which were rebuilt. Trams and later buses crossed it well into the twentieth century, and it is now reserved for pedestrians. Since 1992 it has been part of the Historic Centre of Prague UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Timeline

• c. 1158–1172: The Judith Bridge is built.
• 1342: A flood seriously damages the Judith Bridge.
• 1357, 9 July: Traditional date of the foundation of the new bridge.
• 1393: John of Nepomuk is thrown from the bridge.
• c. 1402: The bridge is completed.
• 1621, 21 June: Heads of executed rebels are displayed on the Old Town Bridge Tower.
• 1648: Swedish troops attack the bridge.
• 1683: The statue of St John of Nepomuk is installed.
• 1870: The bridge is officially named Charles Bridge.

Why it matters

Charles Bridge is a monument to the ambition of Charles IV and the skill of Gothic builders, and for centuries it was the backbone of Prague. Its story, from the coronation route of Bohemian kings to the last fighting of the Thirty Years’ War, mirrors that of the city itself.