Charles Bridge
The Charle Bridge is the second-oldest saved bridge monument in Bohemia. It was built almost on the place of older Judita's Bridge, cut down by flood in 1342. Allthough the building works were started according to order of Charles IV. ind 1357, it was finished in 1402, allmost 50 years later. Its first name was the Prague Bridge or the Stone Bridge, the name Charles Bridge appears first in the 19th century.
Untill 1841 the Charles Bridge has been the only bridge over Vltava river and that's one of the reasons why Prague became an important trade crossing.
The bridge is finished by towers on both sides - the Old Town Tower on the right side and the Smaller and Bigger Lesser Town Tower on the left side of the river. Its lenght exceeds 500 m and it consists of 16 bridge vaults.
The 30 sculptures which decorate the bridge were made in the barock period. The ones on the bridge are today copies only, the originals are saved in the deposit.