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There is a statue on Prague’s Charles Bridge of Saint Johannes van Nepomuk (St. John of Nepomuk) that I have walked past many times and often rubbed the plaque at the bottom for good luck.
Everyone needs a little luck and I wouldn’t want the bridge to crumble beneath my feet, plunging me to my death into the Vltava River, right?
It is widely known that Saint Johannes van Nepomuk, a priest, was drowned in the Vltava River on the orders of Wenceslaus IV, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia. He is considered the first martyr and a protector from floods and drowning.
What I was not aware was that there are other statues of Saint Johannes van Nepomuk throughout the world including,
- Monument on Cathedral Island, at the Church of the Holy Cross, Wroclaw, Poland
- St. John of Nepomuk Statue in Buchach, Ukraine
- Statue of St. John of Nepomuk in Divina, Slovakia
- Saint Nepomuk on the Schwarzen Bridge in Loningen, Germany
- Statue of St. John of Nepomuk in churchyard of the cathedral, Passau, Germany
- Statue of St. John of Nepomuk in churchyard of the cathedral, Passau, Germany
- Roadside figure of St. John of Nepomuk, Buchach, Ukraine
- Statue on bridge of St. John Nepomuk, Wurzburg, Bavaria, Germany
When I had planned our route through Bruges, I had noticed a monument marked on my Google map as a point of interest on the Wollestraat Bridge. We had stopped to take a couple of pictures of the statue, dodging a tour guide and their group, but continued on our journey that day. It wasn’t until later when someone asked if we had seen the famous statue on the bridge that I realized it was an important landmark in Bruges.
This statue of the Saint was designed by Flemish sculptor Pieter Pepers in 1767 and appears, like most others, with a halo of five stars, which commemorate the stars that hovered over the Vltava River on the night of his murder and which are said to symbolize the five letters of the Latin word “tacet” which means silent. He is adorned in priestly robes and carries a large crucifix to which he has set his gaze upon.
What we learned was that the original statue was replaced in 1811.
Why?
It was thrown in to the Dyver Canal in 1795!
Seems that Saint Nepomuk can’t stay off of bridges or out of the river!
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Saint Johannes of Nepomuk Statue
- Address: Dijver, 8000 Brugge, Belgium
- Hours: 24 hours, daily
- Admission: free