Raised by Emperor Leopold I after the 1679 plague, this column honours resilience, gratitude, and redemption.
A timeless reminder as we step into the new year: “hope endures”.
The 623-year-old Charles Bridge, built over the Vltava River in Prague, has survived centuries of floods, fires, wars, and battles, yet it still stands intact. Its construction began on 9 July 1357 at 5:31 a.m., a moment precisely chosen for its palindromic sequence: 1-3-5-7-9-7-5-3-1. King Charles IV believed this would ensure strength and longevity. What once seemed like superstition appears to have worked.
