St. John of Matha, St. Felix of Valois and St. Ivan on Charles Bridge / Sv. Jan z Mathy, Sv. Felix a Sv. Ivan na Karlove moste (Prague) - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

Depicted sculptural group of St. John of Matha, St. Felix of Valois and St. Ivan (Sv. Jan z Mathy, Sv. Felix a Sv. Ivan) 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.

Sculptural group of St. John of Matha, St. Felix of Valois and St. Ivan is the 14th one on the left looking from the Old Town Bridge Tower. The sandstone statuary, also called the Statuary of the Trinatarians or the Turk, is work of Ferdinand Maxmilián Brokoff (1714). Donated by Jan František Josef, Count Thun (1686–1720), it is the largest, most expensive and probably most popular statuary on Charles Bridge. It was created to honor the two founders of the Trinitarian Order that specialized in buying and setting free Christian slaves captured by the Muslims. It is still not clear why the Slavic patron St. Ivan is there with the two French saints. The pedestal of the statuary is made in the shape of a huge rock with a cave. Three imprisoned Christians are guarded by a dog and a Turk with quirts, a figure from many Prague legends. Above the window to the cave, there is a trisectional cartouche with an angel setting both prisoners free, the CoA of the donator and his wife and the Latin inscription Jan František Jos. Count Thun; 1714. On the rock, there is St. John of Matha with broken chains and money to buy slaves with. St. Felix of Valois, below, is taking the handcuffs off a prisoner. On the right side, there is hermit Ivan with the typical Slavic physiognomy. Below there is a stag (to remind us that all three saints used to be hermits). On the right part of the pedestal, there is the Latin inscription When the country was rid of the plague, and peace was signed with the French: 1714. The symbology of the statuary always created worries for monument conservationists in extreme moments of Czech history: during principal political changes in 1945, 1968 and even in 1989, the bars of the cell, the symbol of non-freedom, were ripped out.

Saint John of Matha was a Christian saint of the 12th century and founder of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity, dedicated to ransoming captive Christians. His cultus was approved in 1665 and his feast day is December 17.

Saint Felix of Valois (April 16, 1127 – November 4, 1212) was a hermit and a co-founder (with Saint John of Matha) of the Trinitarian Order.

St. Ivan - Hermit of Bohemia. He had been a successful and prominent courtier in the royal court of Bohemia but gave it up to embrace the life of hermit. St. Ludmilla, duchess of Bohemia, buried him.

[excerpted from Wiki]