Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the early 15th century.

[2] As the only means of crossing the river Vltava until 1841, Charles Bridge was the most important connection between Prague Castle and the city's Old Town and adjacent areas.

The bridge is decorated by a continuous alley of 30 statues and statuaries, most of them baroque-style, originally erected around 1700, but now all have been replaced by replicas.

In 1496 the third arch (counting from the Old Town side) broke down after one of the pillars lowered, being undermined by the water (repairs were finished in 1503).

A year after the Battle of White Mountain, when the 27 leaders of the anti-Habsburg revolt were executed on 21 June 1621, the Old Town Bridge Tower served as a deterrent display of the severed heads of the victims to stop Czechs from further resistance.

During the end of the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the Swedes occupied the west bank of the Vltava, and as they tried to advance into the Old Town the heaviest fighting took place right on the bridge.

Thousands of rafts, logs and other floating materials that escaped from places upstream gradually formed a huge barrier leaning against the bridge.

As of the beginning of the new millennium, most of the experts appeared to agree that the previous reconstruction had not been flawless but disputed the need for further interference with the bridge.

[7][8] In 2010 UNESCO's World Heritage Committee adopted a decision stating that "the restoration of Charles Bridge was carried out without adequate conservation advice on materials and techniques".

[9] The avenue of 30 mostly Baroque statues and statuaries situated on the balustrade forms a unique connection of artistic styles with the underlying Gothic bridge.

The most prominent Bohemian sculptors of the time took part in decorating the bridge, such as Matthias Braun, Jan Brokoff, and his sons Michael Joseph and Ferdinand Maxmilian.

Beginning in 1965, all of the statues have been systematically replaced by replicas, and the originals have been exhibited in the Lapidarium of the National Museum.