Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/35

27 been destroyed in 1342 by a large flood. Charles’ bridge took many years in building and its architect appears to be unknown. (It is only an unauthenticated supposition, that the builder was Peter Parléř the architect of St. Vitus’ cathedral.) It is however certain, that the bridge was finished before the Hussitic wars broke out; but the bare structure only was then completed without the statuary and other artistic ornamentation. It was only at the end of the XVIIth. and the beginning of the XVIIIth. centuries that two statues of saints were placed above every arch. These works having been presented by different people and carried out at different times by eminent sculptors and being very well preserved, transform Charles’ Bridge into a grand open air gallery of saints’ statues, certainly the only gallery of its kind in the world. It is the subject for wonder of all religious people of the Bohemian crown and of all admirers of art and is an art treasure perhaps without its equal in the whole world.

But it is not only the unusual interest and artistic value of these statues, which impress the mind of the beholder, but also the enchanting beauty of the surrounding scenery which enhances the impression. Moreover the great difficulfy with statuary design—the problem of finding fitting pedestals appears to have been solved here in a masterly way. The multitude and variety of forms, the boldnesboldness [sic] of design in this respect must surprise even a non-artist. From the simplest outlines of the sober gothic taste which reigned in the beginning of last century to the exuberant luxuriance of the baroque and rococo styles almost all degrees of development, as it progressed through nearly three centuries, are here represented in the different groups of statues. It is very likely on account of this variety of forms that the long row of statuary does not tire the passer-by, be he a refined connoisseur or merely a man of humble calling. Thus it is that the splendid productions of Braun: St. Luitgard and St. Ivo, the most beautiful of the existing works of this sculptor, also the master-pieces by the brothers Prokov (the Holy Trinity, St. Francis Borgias and both the statues which were badly injured by the flood in 1891 and have not been re-erected yet, St. Ignatius Loyola and St. Francis Xaverius)