Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Karlův most (Charles Bridge)
Tram #17, #18 or #24 to Karlovy lázně
The
Charles Bridge
, or
Karlův most
- which for more than four hundred years was the
only link between the two halves of Prague - is one of the city's most familiar monuments.
Completed in 1402 by the court architect Peter Parler, it's an impressive chunk of medieval
engineering,alignedslightlyaskewbetweentwomightyGothicgateways,butitsfameisdue
almost entirely to the magnificent, mostly Baroque,
statues
(additions to the original struc-
ture)thatpunctuateitslength.Individually,onlyafewoftheworksareoutstanding,buttaken
collectively, set against the backdrop of the Hrad, the effect is awe-inspiring. The bridge is
a perennially popular place to hang out: the crush of sightseers never abates during the day,
when the niches created by the bridge-piers are occupied by souvenir hawkers and buskers,
but at night things calm down a bit, and the views are, if anything, even more spectacular.
Brief history
Karlův most was begun by
Charles IV
in 1357 to replace an earlier structure, the
Judith
Bridge
(Juditin most), which had been swept away by one of the Vltava's frequent floods.
Given its strategic significance, it comes as no surprise that the bridge has played an import-
ant part in Prague's history: in 1648 it was the site of the last battle of the Thirty Years' War,
fought between the besieging Swedes and an ad hoc army of Prague's students and Jews; in
1744 the invading Prussians were defeated at the same spot; and in 1848 it formed the front
linebetweentherevolutionariesontheStaréMěstosideandthereactionaryforcesontheleft
bank.
For its first four hundred years it was known simply as the Prague or
Stone Bridge
- only
in 1870 was it officially named after its patron. Since 1950, the bridge has been closed to
vehicles; incredibly a tram line once ran across it. Prague's most famous landmark was last
threatened by the river it spans in 2002 when water almost reached the tops of the arches in
the biggest
flood
the city had seen in a century.
Malostranské mostecké věže (Malá Strana bridge towers)
Karlův most • April-Sept Sun-Thurs 10am-10pm, Fri & Sat 10am-7pm; March & Oct daily 10am-8pm;
Nov-Feb daily 10am-6pm • 90Kč
Forming the entrance to the Charles Bridge, on the Malá Strana side, are two unequal bridge
towers,
Malostranské mostecké věže
, connected by a castellated arch. The smaller, stumpy
tower was once part of the original Judith Bridge (named after the wife of Vladislav I, who
built it in the twelfth century); the taller of the two, crowned by one of the pinnacled wedge-
spires more commonly associated with the right bank, contains an exhibition tracing the his-
tory of the bridge. You can also walk out onto the balcony that connects the two towers for a
bird's-eye view of the tourist masses pouring across.
