The Stone Bridge

Karlova
Písek, 397 01, post Písek

Telephone: +420 387 999 999

Location: Centre of the town
Type: Municipal architecture

The town boasts the oldest still standing stone bridge in Bohemia. It was undoubtedly built by the Royal Písek-Zvíkov Building Guild Company well before the end of the 13th century. It has seven arches spanning 110 metres and it is 6,5 metres wide. There used to be fortification towers at either end. The left hand tower was destroyed by the flood of 1768, the other one succumbed to wear and tear in 1849. The bridge is adorned by the copies of Baroque sculptures of St John of Nepomuk with angels, St Anne, St Anthony of Padua and the Calvary. The last original was till the hurricane of January 2007 the sculpture of Christ on the Cross which is a work of the local master pewterer Václav Hanzl made in 1791. The bridge is a national cultural monument. It has had to face numerous floods such as in 1432 when the water spilt over it and washed away the balustrades. The flood of 1768 was caused by a pile up of ice blocks during a sudden rise in temperature in winter. This flood pulled down not only the tower mentioned above but it also damaged the arches. One of the biggest floods that have ever come to the town was in August in 2002. The water level rose by 8,5 metres and the water flow was fifty times more than usual. The bridge was completely covered by water and the stone balustrades ended up at the bottom of the river. The reconstruction work started immediately after the water went down and the bridge soon recovered its former beauty.

Map

File date: 24.5.2011