Work on Prague’s famous Charles Bridge started 660 years ago

A ceremony on Prague’s Charles Bridge early on Sunday morning marked the 660th anniversary since work on the famous stone bridge began. The bridge was commissioned by the Bohemian king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV to replace the stone Judith Bridge which was destroyed by floods. According to legend, Charles himself laid the foundation stone at 5:31 in the morning on July 9, 1357. The date and time were said to have been chosen by court astrologers to form a palindromic sequence of ascending and descending numbers (1357-9-7-531). The bridge was completed in 1402. Charles IV never saw it finished; he died in 1378.