Charles Bridge is the kind of place that earns its own mythology. Stretching 516 metres across the Vltava River and flanked by 30 Baroque statues of saints, it has connected Prague's Old Town to Malá Strana since the 14th century — commissioned by King Charles IV in 1357 and completed around 1402. For most of its life it was the only bridge in the city, meaning every merchant, diplomat, pilgrim, and invading army crossed it. That weight of history is palpable in the worn sandstone underfoot and in the slightly ominous, weather-blackened faces of the statues looming overhead.
Monument