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The romantic place to stay.

Prague history:
Prague history -Home-
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Places not to miss:
Prague castle
Charles bridge
Prague clock
Infant jesus
Vyšehrad
Old town streets
And Czech beer!

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History of hotel Alchymist:
Building of Prague hotel is more than 400 years old.Read more...

Prague Charles bridge

The site of Charles Bridge was occupied by a wooden bridge already in 932. In the second half of the 12th century the wooden bridge was replaced with the stone Judita's Bridge (named after the wife of its founder, King Vladislav I), which was destroyed by a deluge in 1342. The present bridge was commissioned by King and Emperor Charles IV in 1357 and was completed at the beginning of the 15th century. The bridge several times sustained demages by floods or wars. (The first flood torn down several piers already in 1432, the last one in 1890.)
The bridge with 16 piers is 520 m long and 10 m wide. Thirty statues were placed on the bridge mostly between 1683 and 1714. The oldest among them is a sculpture of St. John of Nepomuk (1683), the youngest, St. Cyril and St. Method dates back to 1928. As these statues are for the most part unique Baroque works, copies have replaced them in present.
Both ends of the bridge are fortified by towers. The Old Town Bridge Tower originates from the era of Charles IV (finished before 1380). It is richly adorned with sculptures (coats of arms of countries belonging to the Czech Crown under the reign of Charles IV, statues of St. Vitus, Charles IV, Vaclav (Wenceslas) IV, St. Vojtech (Adalbert) and St. Sigismund). Lesser Town Bridge Towers date from different periods. The smaller of them was a part of the Romanesque Judita's Bridge, the higher one was built in the era of King Georg of Podebrady, in the second half of the 15th century.
Until 1841 Charles Bridge was the only bridge connecting the banks of the Vltava River in Prague. It was called simply Prague Bridge or Stone Bridge. The name Charles Bridge has not been used until 1870.