Page:The Story of Prague (1920).djvu/214

 benefactress of their city. Judith’s Bridge was begun in 1169 and finished in three years, an almost inconceivably short space of time. The completion of the bridge was greeted with great rejoicement by the Bohemians, who said that, excepting the bridge over the Danube at Regensburg, no such bridge had been built since the days of the Romans. In the winter of 1342 the Bridge of Judith was destroyed by the floods, and for a time a temporary wooden bridge, partly founded on the remaining pillars of the stone bridge, alone connected the two parts of Prague. This bridge naturally proved insufficient, particularly after Charles IV. had founded the new town of Prague. 188