Charles Bridge: The Statues

There are thirty statues lining the balustrades of Charles Bridge; fifteen on the north side and another fifteen on the south side. It can take up a considerable amount of time if you wanna observe them in detail.

St. Ivo of Kermartin

Madonna with St. Bernard

Madonna with Aquinas and St. Dominic

Saints Barbara, Margaret and Elizabeth

17^th century Crucifixion

Pietà

St. Anne with Madonna and Child

St. Joseph

Saints Cyril and Methodius

St. John the Baptist

St. Christopher

St. Francis Borgia

St. Ludmilla

The statue of St. John of Nepomuk is the most celebrated of all the statues on Charles Bridge. He was thrown into Vltava River from Charles Bridge at the behest of Wenceslas IV. There are two bronze plagues beneath the statue depicting his life. Tradition has it that it you rub the plagues, you are bound to return to Prague. I rubbed it during my first trip seven years ago, and I was there again this year to take this photo!

St. John of Nepomuk

St. Francis Seraphinus of Assisi

St. Anthony of Padua

St. Jude Thaddaeus

Saints Vincent Ferrer and Procopius

St. Augustine

St. Nicholas of Tolentino

St. Cajetan

The Vision of St. Luitgard

St. Philip Benizi

St. Adalbert

Saints John of Matha, Felix of Valois and Ivan

St. Vitus

I have taken photos of twenty-six out of the thirty statues. The missing four are for you to find out yourself. Go visit Prague!

Charles Bridge: The Three Towers

Charles Bridge is the oldest masonry bridge in the Eastern Europe and the first to cross the Vltava River. It was named Stone Bridge in the beginning until it was renamed after King Charles IV in 1870. We can still see Charles Bridge today thanks to very minimal bombing on Prague during the man-made disaster of World War II.

The bridge is guarded by three towers. The tower on the eastern end or Old Town is a very beautiful gothic-style structure. It is probably the most photographed bridge tower in Czech Republic.

The other two towers flank the western end or Lesser Quarter. They are also very beautiful structures but are always dwarfed by the tower on Old Town at the eastern end of the bridge.

The bridge is closed to wheeled traffic. However, the two-legged traffic on the bridge is also very heavy during day time, with army of tourists marching across the bridge and vendors lining the parapet walls.