The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1891-06-25
.xNyHySTORIC BRIDGE.
The Karisbrucke of Prague and
Its History
Rur Centuries It Has spanned the Mol
dan, but Recent Floods Have Rem
deeed Its Destruction
Necessary.

dan, but Recent Floods Have Rem
adered It's Destruction
Necessary.
a .short time ago the, dispatches
stated that the famous Karlsbrucke, or
Charles bridge, across the Moldau at
prague was doomed to destruction by
che great floods which have been cre-
citing such havoc In central Europe
The paragraph was bridf one and
probably attracted little attention, but
no one who knows the pride with
which for hundreds Of yearssthe Bohe-
mians have regarded this bridge could
read the few lines without n thrill Of
sympathy.
To write history of the KaflsbruclSe,
says the Chicago Post, would be to
write the history Of Prague dnring the
past FIVE centuries. This, indeed, were
well.worth the doing, for though the
old world is rich in historic cities, few
are more interesting than this wonder
ful,old town with its stately buildings,
Its quaint ,old houses and beautiful
gardens, and its memories ofillustri-
Gus men and .women--of Huss and
Wallenstein, of Maria Theresa and her
tmplacable enemy, Frederick the Great.
How many times those and others
sonrcely less famous have passed to and
Ho over the Karlsbrucke.
Prague was the favorite city Of that
splendid monarch, Charles ~, "the
stepfather Of the empire, but the father
of Bohemia" He established her cele-
brated university and beautified the
town in many ways, besides laying the
foundation of the Karlsbrucke in 1857.
For one hundred and fifty years the
work Svent on, and when finally COM
pleted, in 1907, it was justly regarded
rs triumph of the engineering skill Of
tho age.
Even to-day few bridges are worthy
of more admiration than the old
Karlsbrucke with its grand old Gothic
tower and its sixteen noble arches
spanning the beautiful Moldau. As
tme went on statues and groups of
figures were placed ON the buttresses
of the bridge. The oldest of these,
large stone crucifx with images of the
Virgin and st. John, was built with
money wrung from the Jews. Short
services were occasionally held before
the cruciix.
Another curious group, showing the
suffering souls in purgatory, commem-
GRATED the dreadful visitation Of the
plague. But the most interesting of
the statuesis that Of St.. JChn of Nepo-
muk, the patron Of bridges and the
saint whom all Prague delights to
honor. st. John, so the legend tells us,
was the eonfessor Of the lovely queen
OF Bohemia and refused to reveal the
eecrets of the, confessional to her jeal-
toB husband. The cruel Wenzel COM
manded him to be tortured; and after
ward he was thrown from the Karls-
Hrucke at night into the rushing Mol
r1au. Whereupon the body Of the good
priest, instead Of sinking, continued to
aloet until taken from the water, while
1--WE brilliant stars lowered over 1t. The
N4atue representsan an ascetic figure hold
ing cr1lcifix, and around tho head are
arranged the e,miraculous stars.
One fingers longest near the fine old
FOwer at the entrance to the bridge. If
by some spell like that used in the
arabian tale we could unseal the lips
Df the sculptured figures who look
NOWA ~ CoAAuiy AxoA eACA AO4Ny o0deAOAAs
what tragic tales they could tell of the
anany times the tide Of battle has surged
across this bridge. During the stormy
days Of the thirty years war 1t was the
gsoeue of many conflicts, and for ten
years the heads of twelve Of Bohemia's
Protestant mobiles swung in iron cages
Hfpm the tower. Later, the citizens of
Prague rallied to Its defense against
Nhe Swedes and held It for three long
@nonths, till the peace Of Westphalia
ended the war. When Frederick the
Hrcat invaded Bohemia It was the scene
Ut bloody struggle, and as lately as
tho revolution Of 1S48 o famous barri-
Gade was built there by the students.
But the days Of the Karlsbrucke are
zambered. Recently three. Gifts arches
were carried away by the swollen river
1ad the collapse Of . fourth little
1a&er renders its destruction inevitable.
Begun as the night OF the middle ages
was beginning to roll away and finished
in the dawning light Of the reformation,
She old bridge falls Just as the ;twenti-
eth century opens before the world.