St. John of Nepomuk - Námešt na Hané, Czech Republic - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

The sandstone statue located near a center of the city, just at a bridge across the river Sumice in Namest na Hane represents the patron saint of Bohemia, John of Nepomuk. The staue comes from 1749 and it was sculpted by a Baroque sculptor Jirí Antonín Heinz (1698 – 1759). On a richly decorated Baroque plint with engraved prayer to John of Nepomuk there is his statue in a priest robe, with the Bible and a hat at his feet and a baby angel carrying a cross at his side.

John of Nepomuk

He was born c1354 in the small town of Nepomuk in Bohemia (the Czech Republic) to a wealthy Christian family. He was sent to study Theology and Canon Law at the Universities of Prague and Padua. He was well connected with the wealthy nobility and in In 1393 he was made the vicar-general which brought him into close contact with royalty. The ruling monarch was the Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor (aka Wenceslas) who was also the King of Bohemia (February 26, 1361 – August 16, 1419). Saint John Nepomuk became the confessor of the the fourth wife of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. The name of the Empress was Elizabeth of Pomerania (1347–1393). Rather than reveal the confession of the Empress, at the command of the Emperor Charles IV, he allowed himself to be cast into the river Moldau from the bridge at Prague and died by drowning on March 20, 1393.

The figure of Saint John of Nepomuk is often encountered in Central and Eastern Europe, including the Czech Republic, Italy, Germany, Poland and Lithuania. He is usually portrayed with a halo of five stars, commemorating the stars that hovered over the Vltava River on the night of his murder.
John of Nepomuk is seen by Catholics as a martyr to the cause of defending the Seal of the Confessional, by romantic nationalists as a Czech martyr to imperial interference, and by most historians as a victim of a late version of the inveterate investiture controversy between secular rulers and the Catholic hierarchy.

Cited from (visit link)

More details on the statue in Czech are here - (visit link)

Associated Religion(s): Roman Catholic Statue Location: near the center of the city, at the bridge across Šumice river Entrance Fee: free Artist: Jiří Antonín Heinz Website: Not listed

Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the statue. A waymarker and/or GPSr is not required to be in the image but it doesn't hurt.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   05/18/2019 davidb11 visited it