Charles Bridge has stood here since the time of Charles IV, who had it built. The statue of Charles IV is to the right of the tower in the middle of a small flowerbed. Charles IV also founded the university in Prague, which we have past in the old town and whose charter is held by the statue of Charles IV. It had 4 faculties at that time (theological, medical, legal and philosophical). Can you tell which statue belongs to which faculty?
The bridge itself has withstood battles and great waters since the time of Charles IV. It is said that it is because Charles IV ordered the masons to add eggs to the mortar. And because eggs were needed in abundance, they had to be imported from all over the kingdom. Every town sent eggs to the royal bridge in Prague. But in the town of Velvary, they were afraid that the eggs would break on the way, so they hard-boiled the eggs before the journey. Of course, they couldn’t be put into the construction. The Velvarians cut themselves quite a disgrace and the craftsmen of the Charles Bridge were glad for a good snack.
The Charles Bridge is not the first bridge to cross the river here. King Charles IV had it built on the site of an old bridge that was torn down by a flood. He used parts of the original bridge.
The old bridge was taken care of by the Order of the Teutonic Knights, which has a church and a former hospital on the northern part of the square (which is called Križovnické after them). On the information board on the house near the Vltava River we can find the name of this bridge in the last line.
The name of the bridge was :
Our tour ends at the entrance to Charles Bridge. In total, you have walked 2.6 km through the Old Town of Prague.