St. Philip Benitius on Charles Bridge / Sv. Filip Benicius na Karlove moste (Prague)
N 50° 05.221 E 014° 24.488
33U E 457659 N 5548473
Depicted statue of St. Philip Benitius (Sv. Filip Benicius) is one of 31 historic statues (...or groups) decorating famous Gothic Charles Bridge (Karluv most) in Prague' centre.
Waymark Code: WMNG2Q
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 03/09/2015
Views: 52
Depicted statue of St. Philip Benitius (Sv. Filip Benicius) is one of 31 historic statues (...or groups) decorating famous Gothic Charles Bridge (Karluv most) in Prague' centre.
Statue of St. Philip Benitius is the 13th one on the right looking from the Old Town Bridge Tower. The statue is work of Michael Bernhard Mandl (1714) and was donated by the Prague Convent of the Servites. It is the only marble statue on Charles Bridge. It portrays the prior-general of the Servites, St. Philip Benizi, dressed in a regular vestment, with a cross, branch and book and in an ecstatic pose. By his feet, there is a papal tiara to remind us of his refusal to become a pope. On the pseudo-Rococo cartouche of the pedestal, there is the Latin inscription St. Philip Benizi, the fifth prior-general of the Servites, was loved by God for his humbleness: 1713. The statue was renovated by M. Tomše and J. Kaifosz in 2000. The new pedestal, made of four pieces of sandstone from Božanov, was created by J. Diviš.
St. Philip Benizi (Philip Benizi de Damiani) was born to an aristocratic family in Florence in 1233. He studied at universities in Paris and Padua, where he then worked as a physician. After his religious vision, he joined the Order of Servites, became a priest, was elected prior-general of the order and codified the Servite rules. In the year of 1268, he was chosen as a potential papal candidate but refused it. He died in 1285 and was canonized in 1671.