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Charles Bridge
Did you know there are THIRTY saints standing guard on this bridge, and they've been watching over Prague for more than 600 years? That's like... your whole life times SIXTY! Look down at those massive stone blocks under your feet - each one weighs as much as TWO elephants, and it took builders 45 whole years to stack them all up! Can you spot the statue with the golden stars? That's Saint John - people have rubbed his plaque 10 million times for good luck, wearing the bronze smooth as butter! Here's the coolest secret: every morning at exactly 5:21 AM on summer solstice, the sun shines through the Old Town Bridge Tower and lights up Saint Vitus PERFECTLY on the other side... like ancient engineers planned it that way! Count how many musicians you see - the record is 47 performers in one single day!
Did You Know?
- The foundation stone of Charles Bridge was laid at precisely 5:31 a.m. on July 9, 1357—a date and time carefully chosen by King Charles IV because it forms a numerical palindrome (135797531), which he believed would bring the bridge strength and good fortune, reflecting his deep interest in numerology and astrology.
- For over 400 years, Charles Bridge was the only permanent crossing over the Vltava River in Prague, making it a vital artery for trade, military movements, and daily life between Prague Castle and the Old Town, and cementing Prague's status as a key European city.
- The bridge is lined with 30 dramatic Baroque statues of saints, added in the 17th and 18th centuries, but all the statues you see today are copies—the originals, weathered by time and floods, are now preserved in Prague’s National Museum to protect them for future generations.