Sousoší Krista Spasitele, Sv. Kosmy a Sv. Damiána na Karlove moste / Sculptural group of Christ the Saviour, St. Cosmas, and St. Damian on Charles Bridge (Prague)
N 50° 05.231 E 014° 24.442
33U E 457604 N 5548492
Depicted Baroque 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.
Waymark Code: WMNG25
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 03/09/2015
Views: 45
Depicted Baroque 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. [wiki]