Charles IV Monument (Prague)

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Charles IV monument

The neo-Gothic monument of Charles IV (Czech: Pomník Karla IV. ) On the Kreuzherrenplatz in Prague was created in 1848 by the Dresden sculptor Ernst Julius Hähnel for the 500th anniversary of the founding of Charles University . It is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic .

history

As early as the 1830s, the desire arose to erect a monument to the Bohemian King and Emperor Charles IV in Prague. Charles IV was revered by many as a great figure of the national past and the approaching 500th anniversary of the founding of Charles University offered a fitting opportunity to realize this wish. In 1842 an expert jury was formed from members of the university. She commissioned the Dresden sculptor Ernst Julius Hähnel, whose first model she unanimously accepted in 1844. The bronze casting was done by Jacob Daniel Burgschmiet in Nuremberg . The Kreuzherrenplatz was redesigned and expanded in 1848 and the memorial was erected there.

The big university celebrations and the unveiling of the monument were planned for the end of October 1848, but had to be postponed because of the revolution and the unrest in Prague that went with it. The unveiling of the monument took place on January 31, 1851.

description

On top of the bronze monument is Charles IV, in his right hand he holds the sealed founding document of the university. Beneath it is the gold inscription Karolo Quarto Auctori Suo Literarum Universitas . On the plinth we see allegories of the four faculties at that time , depicted as sitting female figures: theology leans with her right hand on the Bible , her left hand points to a book by Thomas Aquinas . The philosophy holds in her right hand a lighted torch in her left hand and writings of Plato and Aristotle . The jurisprudence points to the Code and the medicine holds in her right hand a cup with snake and on her lap is a font of Hippocrates .

At the corners of the base there are statues of four important personalities from the time of Charles IV: Matthias von Arras , Ernst von Pardubitz , Johann Očko von Wlašim and (probably) Beneš from Wartenberg.

  • Allegory of Jurisprudence

  • Allegory of Medicine

  • Allegory of Philosophy

  • Allegory of theology

literature

  • Karel Stehlík: Dějiny pomníků pražských . In: Věstník obecní královského hlavního města Prahy, (č. 4, roč. 16) . 1909 (Czech).
  • Pavel Vlček: Umělecké památky Prahy. Staré Město - Josefov . Academia, Praha 1996, ISBN 80-200-0563-3 (Czech).
  • Eduard Burget: Hlavní hrdina neuskutečněných oslav. Pomník Karla IV. Na Křižovnickém náměstí v Praze . In: Dějiny a současnost . Nakladatelství Lidové Noviny, Praha 2007 (Czech, available online ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pomník Karla IV. , Národní památkový ústav, Retrieved October 23, 2019.

Web links

Commons : Statue of Charles IV at Křižovnické náměstí  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ′ 10.7 ″  N , 14 ° 24 ′ 50 ″  E