Charles Bridge: the Cornerstone

JAN 01 1357 · 12:00

Charles Bridge from the Lesser Town tower, the stone bridge laid at 5:31 AM on 9 July 1357 by Charles IV. Place: Old Town bridge tower, east bank of the Vltava Figures: Charles IV · Petr Parléř, master builder (succeeds Otto in 1357) Charles IV is a believer, deeply, in the harmonic powers of numbers. The cornerstone of his new stone bridge across the Vltava (the old Judith Bridge collapsed in the floods of 1342) is laid at a moment chosen by his astronomers: year 1357, ninth month, ninth day, at five hours, thirty-one minutes, a palindrome rising and falling in odd integers. The chronicle does not record the weather, but does record the king present, the archbishop present, and the cornerstone blessed. Peter Parler was brought to Prague from Schwäbisch Gmünd, not Cologne. He was born and apprenticed in Schwäbisch Gmünd; his father worked in Cologne earlier in his career, but Peter himself came to Prague from Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1356. The companion folio st-vitus-cornerstone correctly states Schwäbisch Gmünd; this folio contradicts it. He will build it in red sandstone for forty-five years. It will be the only bridge across the river for the next four and a half centuries.