Czechia’s most famous bridge is celebrating an anniversary. This Gothic beauty, wreathed in many a legend, has spanned Czechia’s longest river for 668 years!

The foundation stone of Charles Bridge was laid by Roman Emperor Charles IV himself, supposedly on 9th July 1357 at 5.31 in the morning. Find out why exactly at this time!

The Charles, Prague, or Stone Bridge?

All three names are correct. The name, Charles Bridge, did not originate during the actual era of the construction of the monument. For a very long time in the past, the bridge was simply called the Pražský most (Prague Bridge) because it was the only bridge in Prague.

In addition to this name, people also called it the Kamenný (Stone) bridge. The name, Karlův most (Charles Bridge) originated in the late 19th century, and is derived from the name of its founder.

Legends and myths

Ancient legends remain magical to this day. The oldest legend about Charles Bridge is linked to the celebratory inauguration of its construction. The foundation stone was allegedly laid by Charles IV himself on 9 July 1357 at exactly 5:31 a.m. upon the advice of court astrologers.

This rare moment was furthermore heightened by the alignment of the Leo constellation, the symbol of the Bohemian kings, and the high visibility of Mars, the planet of great acts and warriors.

And, what’s more. This resulted in a sequence of odd numbers from one to nine and back (1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1), known as a palindrome. Whether you read a palindrome’s words, sentences or sequence from left to right or the other way around, they sound the same.

Another legend tells of how eggs were used to strengthen the mortar. Unfortunately, this legend was refuted several years ago by an analysis of the bridge’s construction materials. This analysis, however, did show that the medieval builders added milk and wine to the mortar.

From 1883, there was a horse tram passing across the bridge, replaced in 1905 by electrical line. In order to preserve the artistic view of the bridge and not to ruin it with wires leading at the top, Frantisek Křižík came with a special line through the bridge deck.

Yet the heavy carriages vibrated the construction and thus were replaced by buses in 1908. Even the buses were not ideal, so the transport was again stopped the next year, to be renewed in 1932 using buses on tires.

Public transport operated here until World War II, cars stopped driving across the bridge in 1965.

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