The stone Judith Bridge across the River Vltava in Prague was the third oldest stone bridge north of the Alps (after the bridges in Regensburg and Dresden) and the oldest bridge in Bohemia. It was built between the years 1158 and 1172, perhaps thanks to the thirteenth Bishop of Prague, Daniel, who was inspired by bridges in Italy.
After the original wooden bridge across the Vltava had been destroyed (1157), the planned building work found a generous patron in the form of Queen Judith of Thuringia. The work was commissioned out to Italian master masons, who based the structure on the Romanesque bridge in Regensburg (1146). It was 514 m long, 6.8 m wide, and was paved with irregular quartzite or chert blocks. The paving was 4–5 metres lower than the paving of the later bridge - Charles Bridge. It was completed in three years, in October 1172, and was given the name Judith Bridge. In 1253 King Wenceslas I passed on the administration of the bridge to the hospice of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star, who collected a toll.
However, Judith Bridge was not strong enough. 170 years after it was completed, on 3rd February 1342, it was destroyed in a fl ood. The remains can still be seen today, for example in the cellars of the houses in Malá Strana. All that is left of the bridge towers is Judith Tower on the Malá Strana side of the river, where it and the later Gothic tower form the entrance to Charles Bridge. For more information, visit the exhibition entitled Centuries under Water (Staletí pod vodou) (www.muzeumprahy.cz).
Antonín Fridrich
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Váš záznam bude z databáze Vydavatelstvím KAM po Česku s.r.o. vymazán neprodleně, nejpozději však v zákonné lhůtě.
