Charles Bridge

admin March 23, 2023March 23, 2023

Karlův most or the Charles Bridge is the oldest bridge in Prague. The bridge is 516 meters long in total and 9.5 wide, 13 meters high. Karlův most was built when King Charles IV ruled on a territory of an old bridge that had been destroyed due to a flood. It’s a curious fact that the construction of Karluv most began on 9th of July, 1357th year at 05:31 o’clock. These details about the exact time of the construction start weren’t chosen by chance. If you write these numbers the following way: 1 3 5 7 (year) 9 (day) 7 (month) 5 3 1 (time) you get the increasing and deducting scale with the number 9 in its top side. Charles Bridge was finished half a century later – in 1402nd year.

Today, you can see at any convenient for you time – and absolutely for free! On mandatory, have a look at the 30 beautiful sculptures of saints that are arranged along the bridge length and enjoy the lovely views of the city and the river. But before that, do everything possible to learn some of the local mystical legends and mysteries related with Karluv most.

See more Top Attractions in Prague

The Legends

Saint John of Nepomuk Legend

Saint John of Nepomuk was a convicted priest during the rule of King Wenceslaus IV. The king was angry about Nepomuk’s confrontation against Wenceslaus’ repressive government methods. Due to this Nepomuk was tortured for long time and then, killed by the king. The priest’s remains were thrown over Charles Bridge and once they touched the water, five stars flashed in the river. Here’s why the statue of Saint John of Nepomuk at the Karluv most is with a special halo decorated with five stars. The statue is, by the way, located right at the place where it’s supposed and believed the saint was thrown from.

According to the belief, if you touch the saint’s cross, you should expect 10 years of fortune and if you make a wish, it will eventually come true. Whether this is true, or not, it does not matter a lot as even till these you can see a whole queue of people doing the lucky fortune ritual for happiness.

According to another legend when Saint John of Nepomuk’s reains were thrown, one of the bridge arches collapsed. Each next attempt for reconstruction of the arch, though, failed mysteriously and never finished. One of the builders, though, decided it was a God’s penalty and signed a deal with the Devil. To make it to recover the bridge arch, the builder promised the Devil to get him the soul of the first man who steps on the bridge.

The Eggs legend

Lots of legends hover above the story of Charles Bridge’s construction. According to one of them the builders decided to make the bridge stronger by adding raw eggs in the plaster mixture. As in Prague the eggs were not enough it was ordered for the citizens from the nearby towns to send their own eggs. And since the people were quite worried about the eggs that could have break during the way, they simply send the eggs boiled in advance. When the builders added the boiled eggs to the plaster and continued the construction process, everything on the next day suddenly collapsed…

The Cross Legend

The other legend tells a story about a cross that was placed on the Charles Bridge long time ago. It’s thought that the criminals with death conviction used to be made to kneel and pray under the bridge on the way for their execution. As a matter of fact, till these days there are people who have been swearing for seeing the cross (it was taken down long time ago) in their worst moments of life. Meanwhile, other people tell the story vice versa – they say that if you see the cross, it’s a sign for something tragic that’s coming.

No matter what legends and mysteries Charles Bridge in Prague is haunted by, it’s clear that they definitely intrigue and thrill the tourist’s curiosity.