The stone arch Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic, was built between 1357 and 1402. It spans the Vltava River. King Charles IV ordered it to be built to replace Judith Bridge, which was built between 1158 and 1172 but was too small to stand up to a flood in 1342. In 1357, the first stone for the new bridge was thrown down. Petr Parléř, a German builder, designed it. He also created St. Vitus’s Cathedral. Before 1841, it was the only bridge in Prague that crossed the Vltava.

.

.

There are 16 arches on the bridge. One tower was built in the Renaissance style in the 1600s, and the other was built in the late Gothic style in 1464. They guard each end of the bridge and give good views of the many spires that Prague is known for. The bridge changed from a Gothic stone crossing to the path of Baroque figures we see today around the middle of the 17th century. The figure of St. John of Nepomuk, which was built in 1683, still shows the country’s patron saint in a sad way. A cross is said to mark the spot where King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia ordered St. John to be thrown into the Vltava in 1393. It is between the sixth and seventh pedestals. In the end, all 30 poles were filled with figures of saints, most of them in the Baroque style. 
Several floods have damaged the Charles Bridge in the more than six hundred years it has been there. The worst ones were in 1784 and 1890. After the figures were destroyed in 1965, the city slowly replaced them with new stone copies. The first ones are now in the National Museum. As part of the bridge’s repair in 1965, cars were not allowed to cross it. It is still only open to walkers. Later work to fix up the famous bridge, from 2008 to 2010, has been criticised for not taking into account how important it is historically. Still, it’s still a big deal for both tourists and people who live in Prague, a mediaeval city.