Page:Guide to the Bohemian section and to the Kingdom of Bohemia - 1906.djvu/40

30 above which we behold the still higher gable of the church of St. Mary Victoria; and beyond that, the steeps of Petřín (St. Lawrencius hill).

And again the scene changes. Down below our feet rushes the lively stream, amidst parks and gardens, past mills and picturesque houses. Under the next arch of the bridge, a branch of the Vltava river, called Čertovka, and above the arch, rises the only marble statue of Charles’ bridge St. Philippus Benitius, whose white robes form an effective contrast to the dark exterior of the surrounding houses, the walls of which seem to rise perpendicularly out of the water; a dream of Venice on the Vltava, which calls forth the admiration of all visitors to Prague.

From this spot we hasten to the bridge towers of the Small town, casting a passing glance at a beautiful group of statues by Prokov representing the saints John, Ivan and Phillip, and at the most popular of the statues not only on the bridge, but perhaps in the whole kingdom of Bohemia the „Turk of the Prague bridge“, which forms part of the very original pedestal of the group. Opposite to that, stands another interesting group of saints: Cosmas and Damianus, dedicated by the medical faculty of the university of Prague, the background of which is a fine renaissance building, the house „of the three ostriches“. Here we enter into the shadow of the double bridge-towers. The high arch of the entrance gate is flanked on both sides by towers of quite a different shape and age. At first sight the higher one of the two, with turret, at every corner seems to be of earlier date than the neighbouring one which has a sgrafitto—adorned rustica, and gable of an evidently renaissance—style. This lower spire, is of 1249, and an original remnant of the old stone bridge built by queen Judith long before Charles’ bridge, while the higher spire at the right side was begun in the second half of the XIVth. century, finished roughly in 1407 and finally completed only in the middle of the XVth.

The space between the two towers forms the gate; the middle part of which is roofless, in front and at the back it is spanned by gothic arches; above which there are galleries with battlements and barbacans. The smooth masonry of the slender right-hand spire is adorned with