Old Town Bridge Tower
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The Old Town Bridge Tower ( Staroměstská mostecká věž in Czech ) is a Gothic gate tower in Prague built in the 14th century . It stands at the eastern end of the Charles Bridge .
History and description
The bridge tower was built by Peter Parler between 1370 and 1380 as a result of the new bridge construction. It is located exactly above the first bridge pillar on the Old Town side on the bank of the Vltava . Remnants of the tower structures of the previous bridge ( Judith Bridge ) have been integrated into the cellars of the neighboring buildings. The tower rises about 40 meters above the bridge's carriageway.
During the siege of Prague by the Swedes in the Thirty Years War , this tower was shot at from the Lesser Town in 1648 and its facade decoration on the west side was destroyed. This showed a portrait of the Virgin Mary flanked by Karl and his wife Elisabeth von Pomerania , which ultimately had to be removed completely. Its east facade has been preserved over the centuries, but has been damaged and darkened by the constant traffic and adverse weather conditions. From 1874–1878 extensive renovation work was carried out under the master builder Josef Mocker , during which the tower received its current roof. The earlier Gothic paintings in the vaulted arches were renewed and supplemented by P. Maixner during this time.
The bridge tower is significant in terms of art history because of the larger-than-life sculptures of Emperor Charles IV and his son Wenceslaus and Saint Vitus on the second floor above the archway and framed in tracery . Immediately above the wide archway are the coats of arms of all countries that belonged to the Bohemian Kingdom at the time the bridge was built , the coat of arms of the Roman emperor , the coat of arms of the Bohemian king and a kingfisher framed by a veil (a symbol for Wenceslas IV ) in sandstone . On the third floor there is a shield with an eagle and a (not heraldic ) lion. The upper end of the facade are statues of Saints Adalbert and Sigismund . The net vault of the gateway is provided with a keystone designed as a royal crown .
The tower can be climbed for a small entry fee and circumnavigated on a viewing platform. Often a historically dressed trumpeter entertains the tourists from up there.
The tower also served as a political issue: the heads of 27 executed participants in the uprising against the Habsburgs were hung in iron baskets outside as a deterrent for ten years (1621–1631). A memorial plaque installed in 1650 commemorates the participants in the liberation struggles against the Swedes in 1648.
On the Kreuzherrenplatz to the north in front of the tower there is a 4 meter high statue of Emperor Charles IV by Ernst Hähnel from 1846 as well as the Church of the Kreuzherren with the Red Star and the Salvator Church .
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 10.7 ″ N , 14 ° 24 ′ 49.2 ″ E