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Charles bridge
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What the Colosseum to Rome, the Eiffel tower to Paris, that means Charles bridge to Prague. This most famous spectacle of the city binds Old Town district to Little Side full with old houses ornamented with shields and emblems. The district was founded in 1257 on the slope under the Castle, from which a brilliant panorama opens to the river and the Old Town. Its center is the Little Side square with St. Nicholas Church dominating the square. Charles bridge is the oldest one in the city that has been remained, though a wooden bridge and a stone bridge had existed earlier. The stone bridge was named Judith bridge after the wife of king Vladislav I, but a big flood ruined it and a new one had to be built on its place. This is why the existing, 520 m long, almost 10 m wide Charles bridge was built on the command of king Charles IV.
The bridge not only binds the two districts but has strategic importance, therefore it is protected by towers with two bridge towers on the Little Side. In contrast with its military role it has been rather a popular promenade and besides the vendors and the gym shows the famous royal way goes through it where the crowning process of the Czech kings went from the Vysehrad to the Hradcany.
The baroque statue ornaments, for which Charles bridge is famous, we can see not the original masterpieces because they have become to decay and turning to black, so the statues have been taken to restoration and substituted by replicas. In our days a double row stands on the bridge consisting of 30 sculptures or sculpture groups. Their creators are famous masters or some less known masters.
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