Talk:Charles Bridge

Image
This is a photograph taken from the house of mirrors on Petrin hill showing the defence of the bridge against the Swedes in the 30 year war.A small aside to add flavour to the history of this beautiful bridge.


 * Defending the bridge

Collieman 16:15, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Language
This article could do with a clean-up of the language - I think a lot of it was written by non-English speakers, and though it's clear what is meant, the English could be improved. Ben Finn 13:14, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Question
What is a pseudo-gothic light?

Comment
Just a note to "Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV": Charles' title as the Czech King was actually Charles I. and not Charles IV. This refers to the title as a "Holy Roman Emperor". So it should be King Charles I. or Emperor Charles IV.

Some modern legends about Charles Bridge
''Royal astrologers and numerologists specified a precise moment for Charles IV to personally assist in the laying of the foundation stone as 9 July 1357, at 5:31 am. This minute can be enumerated as 135797531. This palindromic sequence of ascending and descending odd digits is carved out on the Old Town bridge tower.''

According to the chroniclers, the construction works began on 1357 in June or July (the precise date is not certain). The hypothesis of the precise date and time of 9 July 1357, at 5:31 am was proposed by Czech astrologist Zdeněk Horský in 1979. This hypothesis was presented as fact in most of Czech media in 2007. Also there is no indication that Charles IV personally assisted in the laying of the foundation stone


 * Zdeněk Horský was a respected astronomer and historian, not an astrologer. See here: []

Also, the palindromic sequence is not carved on Old Town bridge tower. It was chosen as logo for the Museum of Charles Bridge which opened in 2007. It is housed in the former monastery of the Knights of the Cross with the Red Star and the logo can be seen above the entrance. --Jvs.cz (talk) 15:22, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

If the pattern of 135797531 holds, it would make more mathematical sense that construction of the bridge started on September 7th than on July 9th. That would indicate a numerical readout that goes down from the thousands of years (1) to single years (7), then to the month (9), day (7), hour, tens of minutes, single minutes (5,3,1). While modern European convention has the day number preceding the month number, I am not sure if this was the case in the 14th century or if there was any convention back then. And did the years in Prague back them begin in January or in March? If they began in the latter, as was the case in much of Europe back then, 9/7 would correspond to November 7th- too cold at 50 degrees latitude to start construction of a bridge. And what about accurate clocks? Prague was quite technologically advanced and had the astronomical clock, but that was not placed until 1410. I am not sure what existed in 1357. Chroniclers much closer to the time of construction than Horsky was placed the start of construction in June or July, so we can rule out September or November. The palindromic association was not mentioned until 1979, more than 600 years after the start of the construcion. If construction had indeed started at a palindromic time, it would have been recorded way before Horsky. My verdict: Horsky was just trying to earn brownie points by claiming something, and 135797531 is a myth. -Kedem Spears 2021.9.1.19.30- UTC

In popular culture section
As one of Prague´s landmark, the Bridge is featured in hundreds films and boooks, as well as in many video games or television shows. Current list is just very random and unsourced per WP:IPC. I propose to delete that section now. --Jklamo (talk) 21:43, 25 July 2008 (UTC)


 * I agree with the proposal for deletion. --Jvs.cz (talk) 08:53, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Image layout
While I generally agree that galleries should be limited, this is a subject where images enhance the article, as the bridge is a work of art that cannot be adequately described without visual support. Similarly, making the images smaller, by adding the 'upright' parameter, takes away from that visual enhancement. I would re-add the gallery, while perhaps cutting some of the less significant images. Laszlo Panaflex (talk) 15:45, 26 April 2016 (UTC)


 * I agree. On my monitor with the current layout, the images extend past the end of the article text. Jyamine (talk) 08:45, 8 December 2022 (UTC)