The entire construction was completed at the beginning of the 15th century.

The foundation stone was laid down by Charles IV on the 9^th July 1357 at 5:31 a.m., and the date and time have not been selected randomly.

When we write the numbers down as follows: 1 3 5 7 (year) 9 (day) 7 (month) 5 3 1 (time), we get an increasing and decreasing scale with number 9 at the top:

In addition to this sequence, time was also chosen with respect to the position of the planets – all of the known planets were above the Sunset, which was Lion’s ascendant sign, the Heraldic symbol of the Kingdom of Bohemia. According to the legend, bridge builders added the egg mortar.

Work on the bridge went ahead but Charles IV died long before its completion; in 1378 while the bridge was finished in 1402. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the first of many famous statues were added which came to define the appearance of the famous structure.

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.

Charles Bridge along with its rich history became one of the most visited, most beautiful, and most valued monuments in Prague.

Prague’s Charles Bridge is once again “decorated” with new graffiti. Vandals spray-painted “Krakow + Moscow = Prague”, and Sunday’s date, on a bridge arcade on the Lesser Town side.

“We know about the new graffiti and we are already dealing with the National Institute for the Preservation of Historical Monuments and the Department for the Preservation of Monuments of Prague,” said Barbora Lišková, spokesman for Technical Administration of Communications (TSK).

None of the security cameras apparently caught the vandals.

Nové graffiti na Karlově mostě. Krakóv + Moscow = Prague
8.3.2020 pic.twitter.com/l8hxoOlU5I

— janekrubes (@janekrubes) March 9, 2020

The stones are very porous, and it could be very difficult, maybe even impossible to clean them so that there are no traces of the graffiti left on the wall.

Prague is not a crime-torn city. Prague’s crime index is only 24.65. The highest risk of crime seems to come from corruption and bribery, with a 53.61 rating. Vandalism was second with a crime rating of 37.63, still considered very low.

Last year, two German tourists accused of spray painting the Charles Bridge were sentenced to a one-year suspended term sentence, 5 years expulsion from the Czech Republic and a 100,000CZK fine.

But vandalism is pervasive across the board in Europe, perhaps more so than ever. The Sun UK reports that of France’s 42,285 churches, 875 had been desecrated in 2018. Sadly, this report came just a week before the Notre Dame fire, which devoured much of the 850-year-cathedral. The same year, 59 cemeteries were reportedly vandalized.