Charles Bridge stands as the gothic heart of Prague. You likely walked across it to see the castle view, but the stones beneath your feet hold dark secrets. The Emperor started building it at a magical time to ensure it would never fall. Furthermore, the tower once displayed severed heads to scare the population. Builders even used eggs to make the mortar stronger. Let’s explore the Stone Bridge.
Charles Bridge
Charles IV laid the first stone at a precise numerological moment. He began construction on July 9, 1357, at exactly 5:31 AM. This creates the palindrome 1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1, which the superstitious Emperor believed would give the structure strength to last forever.
Builders mixed thousands of raw eggs into the mortar. Medieval masons believed the proteins in the eggs would bind the stone blocks together more tightly. Modern scientific analysis of the bridge’s core actually confirmed traces of organic egg additives in the mixture.
The bridge tower displayed twenty-seven severed heads for a decade. The executioner placed the heads of the rebel leaders from the Battle of White Mountain in iron baskets on the tower. They remained there as a gruesome warning to citizens from 1621 until 1631.
It did not bear the name “Charles Bridge” for centuries. Locals simply called it the “Stone Bridge” or the “Prague Bridge” for most of its history. The city officially renamed it in honor of its founder only in 1870.
Trams and buses used to drive right across the cobblestones. Horse-drawn trams, electric streetcars, and eventually buses carried passengers over the bridge until the 1960s. Today, the city restricts the bridge strictly to pedestrian traffic to preserve the structure.
The Swedish army fought a bloody battle right on the bridge. During the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, the invading Swedes tried to cross the river to capture the Old Town. Students and citizens erected barricades on the bridge and successfully fought them off.
Most of the statues you see today act as replicas. The sandstone originals suffered from centuries of wind and rain damage. Therefore, the city moved the real masterpieces to the National Museum and replaced them with durable copies.
Touching the statue of St. John of Nepomuk brings good luck. The King’s men threw the priest into the river from the bridge because he refused to reveal the Queen’s confessional secrets. Legend says that rubbing his bronze plaque ensures you will return to Prague one day.
A magical sword supposedly lies hidden within the bridge pillars. Legend claims that the knight Bruncvík left his sword there to help the nation in its darkest hour. The story says the bridge will crack open and the sword will appear when Bohemia needs it most.
The bridge aligns perfectly with the summer solstice sunset. If you stand at the Old Town Bridge Tower on June 21st, the sun sets precisely behind St. Vitus Cathedral. Charles IV designed this alignment to symbolize the connection between earthly power and the divine.
A stone head known as “Bradáč” acts as a flood warning. The carved head of a bearded man sits on the riverbank wall near the bridge. For centuries, locals knew that if the river water reached his beard, they needed to evacuate their homes immediately.
Divers can still find ruins of the older Judith Bridge underwater. Charles Bridge replaced the Romanesque Judith Bridge, which a flood destroyed in 1342. The bases of the old pillars still sit at the bottom of the Vltava River today.
A brass cross marks the exact spot where the saint drowned. While tourists flock to the statue, a small brass cross with five stars embedded in the stone railing marks the actual location where guards threw St. John of Nepomuk overboard.
It took nearly 50 years to complete the construction of Charles Bridge. Work began in 1357 but did not finish until 1402. The massive engineering project spanned the reign of two different kings.
Statues of three saints technically cheat at the game. The statue of Saints Norbert, Wenceslas, and Sigismund is the only one on the bridge where the figures stand on a separate, hollow base. Rumor says the sculptors hid a time capsule inside the empty space.
