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A span of centuries

Revelers celebrate the 650th birthday of legendary Charles Bridge

By Hilda Hoy
and Benjamin Thomas Cunningham
Staff Writers, The Prague Post
July 11th, 2007 issue

KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
An actor dressed as a medieval busker signals the start of the ceremony early morning July 9.
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KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
The night's celebrations included a headless horseman's procession, storytellers and musicians.
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KURT VINION/THE PRAGUE POST
Solemn modern-day knights of Charles IV march with weapons drawn.
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COURTESY PHOTO
Serious floods in 1890 took out several of the bridge's stone arches.
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Key moments and milestones

1357: King Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone for the bridge at the precise moment of 5:31 a.m. July 9, 1357. The date and time create a palindromic sequence, 1357-9-7-531, chosen by astrologers to bring good fortune. The new bridge replaces the previous 12th-century one, which had been destroyed by floods. At the time, the bridge is the only connecting point between the left and right banks of the Vltava River
1393: King Wenceslas IV has John of Nepomuk, later canonized as a saint, thrown off the bridge. Legend has it the unfortunate John had refused to reveal secrets he'd heard in confession, but historians say he had angered the king by going against his wishes for the appointment of a new abbott
1621: Twenty-seven Czech leaders of Protestant revolt are executed and their heads displayed for 10 years on the Old Town Bridge Tower, on the eastern bank, to deter further revolts
1648: Swedish troops fighting in the Thirty Years' War occupy the left bank of Prague. Heavy fighting breaks out on the bridge, damaging the Old Town Bridge Tower, and the Swedes are successfully pushed back
1683: The first statue, of St. John of Nepomuk, is added to the bridge. Throughout the centuries, a total of 31 statues will be added, giving Charles Bridge its characteristic look. Tradition now dictates that visitors touch the base of the bronze statue to ensure they will later return to Prague
1870: The bridge, which had been known as the Stone Bridge or Prague Bridge, is first referred to as Charles Bridge, after the king who laid its foundation
1890: Disastrous floods take out three of the bridge's arches, constituting the worst damage to the bridge to date. The bridge also suffered serious damage from floods in 1432, 1496 and 1784
1962: The bridge is officially declared a national cultural heritage site
1965: The bridge is permanently closed to traffic and undergoes a series of extensive reconstructive work over the next 11 years
2002: Serious floods in the month of August cause damage to the banks on either side of the bridge, but the structure itself escapes without major damage
2006: Fashion retailer Louis Vuitton plans to rent the bridge for a lavish party in early September, including a fashion show and a performance by Madonna. After massive public outcry, City Hall votes to deny permission for the event

Source: Czech News Agency

The 650th birthday party for Charles Bridge was a medieval spectacle fit for a movie set, complete with elaborate costumes, cameras and stage lights.
Czech Television set up a stage to broadcast the late-night event July 8, which was complete with men dressed in knight costumes, ladies in waiting, court jesters and commoners. Earlier in the day, spectators were entertained with a jousting tournament on nearby Old Town Square.
Hundreds of tourists and locals drawn by TV promotions and publicity for the evening event thronged the small square next to the bridge.
“There’s nothing like this in Toronto, so when we heard about it, we thought we would … check it out,” said Mike Gaspar, 27, visiting Prague from Canada with his girlfriend. “There’s so much history here.”
Early the next morning at 5:31 a.m., the foundation of the bridge was symbolically blessed. “Charles Bridge is a symbol of the beating heart of Prague,” Mayor Pavel Bém told the Czech News Agency at the morning ceremony.  
According to legend, King Charles IV, later to become Holy Roman Emperor, laid the foundation at 5:31 a.m. July 9, 1357, after consulting astrologers to come up with the palindromic time and date sequence of 1357-9-7-531.
Making the city’s rich history the centerpiece of celebrations was the objective, said Zdeněk Bergman, director of the recently opened Charles Bridge Museum and organizer of the birthday festivities.
“The bridge is an inseparable part of old Prague and its atmosphere. We wanted to give visitors an authentic feel of old Prague,” he said.
City Hall originally considered spending up to 11 million Kč ($523,000) on the two-day event but later cut it back to 3.2 million Kč following criticism from the Czech press, said Rudolf Dobiáš, a city spokesman.
The money saved will help cover the costs of upcoming reconstruction, Dobiáš said. The cost, estimated to be at least 200 million Kč, is to be covered solely by City Hall. Work is slated to start in the coming weeks to fix leaks in the structure and fix damage to the bridge’s walls and walking surface.
Aleš Gregor, 26, a student who attended the celebrations, said any well-publicized event for the bridge would be worth the money.
“Even if it’s expensive, I think it will bring in more money because it will bring tourists,” Gregor said. “Others will hear about it and come here in the future. After 650 years, it’s very nice that they’ve done this huge celebration.”
 
A ‘unique energy’
It’s no coincidence that City Hall planned to pull out all the stops for this milestone birthday.
After all, the bridge is not only an icon of the city but also “one of the top tourist sites” in the country, said Karin Šeligová, spokeswoman for CzechTourism.
“Charles Bridge is very well known all over the world” and features prominently in tourist promotional materials, she said. “This is one of the best-known places in the Czech Republic.”
“I think [the bridge] is an artifact of both art and craftsmanship,” Bergman said. It enchants not just with its looks but also “something intangible. It has some form of unique energy.”
Though the reconstruction is slated to take at least two years just for the first phase, Bergman isn’t worried people will stay away.
The work will take place in segments, so pedestrian traffic will be slowed but not blocked, Bergman said. Currently, an estimated 30,000–50,000 people cross the bridge per day, according to the National Heritage Institute.
What’s more, the Charles Bridge Museum has special exhibits planned to attract tourists, Bergman said.
Šeligová agrees. “It is possible that [the reconstruction] will influence decisions of certain groups of tourists to postpone their visits,” she said. “But I think there are so many other historical sights here” to keep visitors enthralled.
— Hela Balínová and Naďa Černá contributed to this report.

The writers can be reached at news@praguepost.com


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