Charles Bridge is a famous historical bridge crossing the Vltava river in Prague. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV. As the only means of crossing the river in Prague, Charles Bridge used to be the most important connection between the Old Town, Prague Castle and adjacent areas until 1841. Also, this solid-land connection made Prague important as a trade route between east and west Europe.
The bridge is 516 meters long and nearly 10 m wide, resting on 16 arches shielded by ice guards. It is protected by three bridge towers, two of them on the Lesser Quarter side and the third one on the Old Town side. The Old Town bridge tower is often considered to be one of the most astonishing civilian gothic style building in the world. The bridge itself is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, erected around the year 1700.
The need for building a new bridge emerged after the old Judith Bridge was torn down by a flood in 1342. By a rare coincidence, we know the precise moment of laying of the foundation stone of Charles Bridge, personally attented by king Charles IV: July 9, 1357, 5:31 AM. The palindromic number 135797531, carved out on the Old Town bridge tower, was chosen by the royal astrologists and numerologists as the best time for starting the bridge construction. The building was supervised by master mason Peter Parler who was also in charge of building St. Vitus Cathedral.
The bridge was built from Bohemian sandstone. There is a legend saying that eggs were used to enrich the mortar used to bind the stone blocks to make it harder. Although the saying cannot be verified, modern laboratory tests have indeed found anorganic and organic ingredients in the mortar. The construction of Charles Bridge took place until the beginning of the 15th century. To pay for it, tolls were taken, first by the religious order of the Knights of the Cross, then by the Old Town municipality until 1815.
Throughout the history, Charles Bridge suffered several havocs and witnessed many historic events. A flood in 1432 damaged three pillars. In 1496 the third arch (counting from the Old Town side) broke down after one of the pillars lowered, being undermined by the water. A year after the Battle of White Mountain, when the 27 leaders of the anti-Habsburg revolt were executed on 1621, the Old Town bridge tower was used as a deterrent display of the cut-off heads of the victims to stop Czechs from further resistance. During the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the Swedes occupied the west bank of the Vltava and as they tried to advance into the Old Town, the heaviest fights spread out right on the bridge. During the fighting, they severely damaged one side of the Old Town bridge tower (the side facing the river) and the remnants of almost all gothic decorations had to be removed from it afterward. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries the bridge gained its typical appearance when an alley of baroque statues was installed on the pillars. During a great flood in 1784, five pillars were severely damaged and although the arches didn't break down, the traffic on the bridge had to be greatly restricted for some time.
On September 1890, another disastrous flood struck Prague and severely damaged Charles Bridge. Thousands of rafts, logs and other floating material gradually formed a huge barrier leaning against the bridge. Three arches were torn down because of the pressure and two pillars collapsed from being undermined by the water, while others were partly damaged. With the fifth pillar, two statues also fell into the river. After the flood of 2002 it was decided to repair and stabilize two pillars, number 8 and 9, on the Malá Strana side of the Bridge. These were the only river pillars that had not been repaired after the 1890 flood.
Finally, the 30 mostly baroque statues and statuaries located on the balustrades forms a unique connection of artistic styles with the underlying gothic bridge. Most of them were erected between 1683 and 1714. They depict various saints venerated at that time and the most prominent Bohemian sculptors of the time took part on decorating the bridge. Starting in 1965, all the statues have been systematically replaced by replicas and the originals are now exhibited in the lapidarium of the National Museum.
