Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ST JOHN OF NEPOMUK
WhereEmperorCharlesIVsoughttopromoteVáclav(Wenceslas)asthenation'spreferred
saint, the Jesuits, with Habsburg backing, replaced him during the Counter-Reformation
with another Czech martyr,
John of Nepomuk
(Jan Nepomucký). The latter had been ar-
rested, tortured, and then thrown - bound and gagged - off the Charles Bridge in 1393 on
the orders of Václav IV, allegedly for refusing to divulge the secrets of the queen's confes-
sion. A cluster of stars was said to have appeared over the spot where he drowned, hence
the halo of stars on every subsequent portrayal of the saint. The Jesuits, in order to ensure
his canonization, exhumed his corpse and produced what they claimed to be his tongue -
alive and licking, so to speak (it was in fact his very dead brain).
The more prosaic reason for John of Nepomuk's death was simply that he was caught
up in a dispute between the archbishop and the king over the appointment of the abbot of
Kladruby, and backed the wrong side. John was tortured on the rack along with two other
priests, who were then made to sign a document denying that they had been maltreated;
John, however, died before he could sign, and his dead body was secretly dumped in the
river. The Vatican finally admitted this in 1961, some 232 years after his canonization.
Staroměstská mostecká věž (Staré Město bridge tower)
Karlův most • Daily: April-Sept 10am-10pm; March & Oct 10am-8pm; Nov-Feb10am-6pm • 90Kč • 224
220 569
The
Staroměstská mostecká věž
is arguably the finest bridge tower on Charles Bridge,
built for show and not for defensive purposes. The western facade was wrecked in the battle
of 1648 but the eastern facade is still encrusted in Gothic cake-like decorations from Peter
Parler's workshop along with a series of mini-sculptures. The central figures are St Vitus,
flanked by Charles IV on the right and his son, Václav IV, on the left; above stand two of
Bohemia's patron saints, Adalbert and Sigismund. The severed heads of twelve of the Prot-
estant leaders were suspended from the tower in iron baskets following their execution on
Staroměstskénáměstíin1621,andallbutoneremainedthereuntiltheSaxonspassedthrough
the capital ten years later. The tower's permanent exhibition is of little interest - the real at-
traction lies in the views from the roof.
Křižovnické náměstí
Tram #17, #18 or #24 to Karlovy lázně
Pass under the Staré Město bridge tower and you're in
Křižovnické náměstí
, an awkward
space hemmed in by its constituent buildings and, with traffic hurtling across the east side of
thesquare,adangerousspotforunwarypedestrians.Hardbythebridgetowerisanineteenth-
