after walking around we went to the city's most famous
attraction it is the oldest standing bridge over
the Vltava river in Prague and the second oldest bridge in the
country the gothic charles bridge
historic picturesque and crowded bridge this gem is the symbol of the czech
republic
its construction was commissioned by sheikh king
and holy roman emperor charles iv in 1357 after the previous
judith bridge built in 1172 had collapsed in a flood in 1342
the construction of the bridge was led by peter barther
the famous german check architect and it took him almost half a century to
finish the bridge formerly known as stone
bridge or prague bridge has been renamed charles bridge since
1870. it was the only bridge over the waltzava
until 1841. there are certain legends surrounding
the bridge and here are some of them legend has
it that the construction began at 5 31 a.m on july 9 1357
with the first stone being laid by charles the fork himself
this exact time was very important to the holy roman emperor
because he was a strong believer in numerology
and felt that in a specific time which form a palindrome
will create a numerical bridge and will imbue it with
additional strength
the numbers are written down as follows one three
five seven the year nine day seven months
five three one time
another legend is that the builders decided to strengthen the bridge
by adding raw eggs in the mortar so eggs were brought from every corner of the
land and in one of the regions people were
afraid that the eggs would break during transport that they sent them
boiled a horror story tells of a cross that
used to be placed on the bridge allegedly convicts sentenced to the
death penalty were allowed to kneel under it and pray
on the way to their execution
charles bridge has witnessed a lot of history
since its construction unlike its predecessor
charles bridge has survived many floods most recently
in august 2002 when the country experienced
the worst flood in the past 500 years from 1883 horse tram passed across the
bridge it was replaced in 1905 by electrical line but soon replaced due
to the wires but the heavy carriages vibrated the
construction and thus were replaced by bosses in 1908
public transport operated here until the second world war
the cars stopped driving across it in 1965.
so here's the story of the two towers located on each end of the bridge
old town bridge tower the tower was built
by parlor's melting plant the lower part came into existence when charles iv
was still alive the three statues clockwise are the emperor charles iv
the bridge patron saint vitus and vatslav the fourth
in the upper part which represents the heavenly spear
are saint prokop and saint sigismund more fighting took place here in 1422
when the hascites passed through here towards malastrana
in 1621 baskets with the heads of 12 noble men
decapitated at the old town square were hung
here as a warning the other towers are the lesser town bridge towers
the smaller tower formed a part of judith's bridge
until it was rebuilt and lowered after a fire the larger tower
was built in place of its older predecessor
in the second half of the 15th century the inter tower gate was built in the
beginning of the 15th century
a total of 30 baroque statues began to be placed along either side of the
charles bridge in the 17th century now many of them are
copies and originals can be seen in the
lapidario in the national museum
heading from the old downbridge tower to leicester town
on the left are the following statues saint evil
saint barbara margaret and elizabeth
pieta are bewailing of christ
saint joseph with baby jesus
saint francis savarius
saint christopher
saint francis borgia
saint ludmila with little vat's love
saint francis seraphine
saint vincent ferrer and saint procco
saint nicolas obtarentino saint loud guard or the dream of saint
luthegard
saint adelbert voicetec
saint john mata felix of baloi and ivan saint
vatslav
heading from the old town bridge tower to lesser town
on the right side madonna and saint bernard
madonna saint dominic and saint thomas aquinas
called valerie our holy crucifix saint anna
saint cereal and motor deuce
saint john the baptist
saint norbert vatsalov and sigismund
saint john nippon it is probably the most famous statue
in the bridge john was a general vikar of prague's arc bishop
upon the order of king vaclav iv he was tortured to death
as he refused to subordinate religious right to the will of the secular
ruler and he refused to reveal the confession secret of queen sophia
he was finally executed by being thrown into the voltava river
from the bridge in 1393 the plaque on the statue has been
polished to shine by countless people having touched it over the
century with the belief that it will give them good luck
saint anthony appadua
saint jude thaddeus
saint augustine
saint catching saint philip benitus
saint vitus
and finally saint cosmas adamian with salvatore
at the present the bridge is under the administration
the charles bridge association of artists
the sculptures are maintained by the prague gallery
there is a museum located at the old town tower
side of the bridge
i hope you enjoyed this video until next time
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