Charles Bridge is one of the most beautiful bridges on the world and the oldest bridge in Prague. It is almost 10m wide and 516m long and rests upon 16 pillars. Many interesting, mysterious, illogical or even unpleasant and ghostly things happen around it.
The bridge is graced by 30 baroque sculptures dating from the beginning of the 18th century, depicting saints, historical and biblical characters.
Charles Bridge is a popular place for street artists – painters, musicians, dancers, mime artists, they even founded an Association of Charles Bridge Artists (www.karluv-most.cz).
The date and time of laying the cornerstone was not chosen randomly. Combined, they form an ascending and descending line of odd numbers: year 1357, 9.7., 5:31 AM.
John of Nepomuk (Jan Nepomucký), a general vicar, who refused to reveal confessional secrets about Queen Sofia to her husband, bohemian King Wenceslas IV, is said to have been thrown down into the Vltava from the bridge. He was canonized in 18th century.
The place from which he was thrown down from is marked by a small brass cross
with five stars (between John the Baptist (Jan Křtitel) sculpture and St.
Norbert, Wenceslas (Václav) and Sigismund (Zikmund) group). According to legend,
if you lay your hand on the cross so that all your fingers rest upon those 5
stars your secret wish will come true. People also touch the relief on St. John
of Nepomuk‘s sculpture wishing for good luck.