Christ the Saviour, St. Cosmas, and St. Damian on Charles Bridge / Kristus Spasitel, Sv. Kosma a Sv. Damián na Karlove moste (Prague) - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

Depicted sculptural group of St. Cosmas, Christ Savior and St. Damian (Sv. Kosma, Spasitel a Sv. Damián) is one of 31 historic sandstone statues (...or groups) decorating famous Gothic Charles Bridge (Karluv most) in Prague' centre.

What makes Charles Bridge a top tourist attraction is the open air sculptural gallery which adorns it. It was created much later than the actual bridge construction, mostly in 1706-1714 in the expectation of the canonisation of John of Nepomuk (Jan Nepomucký). Despite the partial changes the gallery has undergone since its creation, it is still a great reflection of the history of the Czech lands - there are 31 statues and groups of statues in all on the bridge today with approximately 100 figures, among them also prime works of the great men of central European sculpture Matthias B. Braun and Ferdinand M. Brokoff. Since 1965 the precious originals of the statues have been gradually replaced by replicas. In extent and quality this bridge gallery has no equal in Europe.

Statuary of Christ the Saviour with St. Cosmas and St. Damian is the 15th sculptural group one on the right looking from the Old Town Bridge Tower. The sandstone statuary is work of Jan Oldrich Mayer (1709) and was donated by the Medicine Faculty of the Prague University (both saints are patrons of physicians). Three separate figures are standing on a massive pedestal. In the middle, there is the statue of Jesus Christ Salvator Mundi (the Savior of the World). St. Cosmas (on the left) and St. Damian (on the right) are dressed in the typical attire of professors of the Prague University. They are holding palm branches, the symbol of martyrs, and medicine vessels. Cosmas is holding a vessel with the Latin inscription Thus prescribed medicine and Damian a vessel with the Latin inscription This is the medicine of life. Other mostly Latin inscriptions say Our redemption is in this cross: 1709 (on the sides of the cross), To Cosmas, the Hippocrates among the saints: 1709 (on the left cartouche), To Jesus Christ, the healer of the world: 1709 (on the middle cartouche), To the pious brother Damian, the Galen from Heaven: 1709 (on the right cartouche).

Saints Cosmas and Damian (died ca. AD 287) were reputed twin brothers, physicians, and early Christian martyrs born in Cilicia, part of today's Turkey. They practiced their profession in the seaport of Aegeae, then in the Roman province of Syria. Accepting no payment for their services led to them being named Holy Unmercenaries; it has been said that, by this, they attracted many to the Christian faith. According to Christian traditions, during the persecution under Diocletian, Cosmas and Damian were arrested by order of the Prefect of Cilicia, one Lysias who is otherwise unknown, who ordered them under torture to recant. However, according to legend they stayed true to their faith, enduring being hung on a cross, stoned and shot by arrows and finally suffered execution by beheading. Anthimus, Leontius and Euprepius, their younger brothers, who were inseparable from them throughout life, shared in their martyrdom.

Their most famous miraculous exploit was the grafting of a leg from a recently deceased Ethiopian to replace a patient's ulcered or cancerous leg, and was the subject of many paintings and illuminations. Ss. Cosmas and Damian are regarded as the patrons of physicians and surgeons and are sometimes represented with medical emblems.

Jesus Christ is the central figure of Christian mythology, the Son of God who became a man to save the world, a Jewish gospeler whose teachings became the basis of Christianity. The majority of information about Jesus as a man is uncertain or questionable; some historians even doubt his actual existence. He was probably born in Bethlehem or Nazareth in 7 B.C., spent most of his life in Galilee during the reign of Herod Antipas and died as a martyr in Jerusalem probably sometime between the year of 29 and 32. Four canonical gospels that Christians consider the primary source of information about the life and teachings of Jesus Christ are not credible historical documents; the gospels describe the life and mission of Jesus Christ as viewed by His disciples at the time they were written, i.e. in the last quarter of the 1st century. Jesus, as well as His forerunner St. John the Baptist, differed from today’s preachers in particular by stressing the coming of the Kingdom of God, which is now being realized through Jesus. Because of His acts, He came into conflict with back-then Jewish politicians and the Roman occupational power; after His coming to Jerusalem, Jesus was accused of preparing a political revolution and was crucified. His disciples were convinced that Jesus was alive and revealed to them. The modified teachings and work of Jesus Christ became the foundation of the Christian faith. – For Christians, Jesus Christ is the Son of God born of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, who incarnated, became a man, lived among people and was crucified and resurrected. And this miracle brings salvation to all His followers. He is the only mediator between God and man and the climax of God’s revelation. According to Christian tradition, Jesus Christ was also a perfect man; a Christian should act in compliance with Jesus’ teachings and acts.