Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
(6)StAdalbert
Prague's second bishop, the youthful cleric who was hounded out of the city
on more than one occasion by the blissfully pagan citizens of Prague.
(7)StCajetan
Another(atthetime) recently canonized saint; founderoftheTheatine Order,
he stands in front of a column of cherubs sporting a sacred heart.
(8) St Lutgard
One of the most successful statues, sculpted by Braun when he was just 26
yearsold.TheblindFlemishCisterciannunisdepictedinthemiddleofhercelebratedvision,
in which Christ appeared so that she could kiss his wounds.
(9) St Augustine & (10) St Nicholas of Tolentino
Sponsored by the Augustinians; St Nich-
olas of Tolentino, one of St Augustine's followers, is depicted dishing out bread to the poor.
(11) St Jude Thaddaeus
The apostle and patron saint of people in dire straits holds the club
with which the pagans beat him to death.
(12)StVincentFerrer
TherecentlyrestoredDominicanfriarstandsoveroneofhisconverts
to self-flagellation. The inscription below lists his miraculous achievements, including the
conversion of 2500 Jews, forty resurrections and the exorcism of seventy demons. He is
joined, somewhat inexplicably, by Bohemia's best-loved hermit,
St Procopius
.
(13)Roland
If you look over the side of the bridge by (12), you'll see a rather sorry-looking
nineteenth-century sculpture of Roland - Bruncvík in Czech - brandishing his miraculous
golden sword (the real thing is said to be embedded in the bridge, to be used in case of muni-
cipal emergency). The original, erected to protect the rights of the Staré Město over the full
extent of the bridge, was destroyed in 1648.
(14)StAnthonyofPadua&(15)StFrancisofAssisi
The Franciscan pier - St Francis is a
lifeless nineteenth-century figure accompanied by two angels.
(16)
StJohnofNepomuk
Thebridge'searliest andmostpopularsculpture. Theonlybronze
statue, it's now green with age, the gold-leaf halo of stars and palm branch gently blowing
in the breeze. St John's appearance here in 1683 was part of the Jesuits' campaign to have
him canonized; the statue inspired hundreds of copies, which adorn bridges throughout cent-
ral Europe. On the base, there's a bronze relief depicting his martyrdom, the figure of John
now extremely worn through years of being touched for good luck.
(17) St Ludmila
A rather androgynous version of Bohemia's first martyr holds the veil with
which she was strangled. Standing alongside is her grandson,
St Wenceslas
, depicted as a
young child; his future martyrdom is recounted in the bas-relief.
(18-21) St Francis Borgia
(19) These two piers are occupied by glum nineteenth-century
space-fillers: a trio of Bohemian saints -
Norbert
,
Sigismund
and
Wenceslas
(18) -
John
the Baptist
(20) and
St Christopher
(21). Between piers 18 and 20 a small bronze cross
set into the wall and a relief above wall level marks the spot where John of Nepomuk was
dumped in the river; touch it and you're guaranteed to return to the city.
