St. Anne sculptural group on Charles Bridge / Sousoší Sv. Anny na Karlove moste (Prague) - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

Depicted Baroque St. Anne sculptural group (sousoší Sv. Anny) is one of 31 historic 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.

St. Anne sculptural group is the 4th one on the right looking from the Old Town Bridge Tower. The sandstone sculptural group, work of Matej Václav Jäckel (1707), wad donated by Rudolf Count of Lisov, the lord of Nový Stránov and Vtelno (†1711). It is probably the most poetic statuary on the bridge. St. Anne is portrayed in the back-then popular image of "Herself Making a Third," i.e. in the company of her daughter the Virgin Mary and grandson Jesus Christ, who is in her arms and holds the earth with a cross. With her other arm, she embraces the Virgin Mary, who is devoutly looking up to St. Anne and is handing her a bouquet of roses; Mary is portrayed as a girl, which symbolizes her chastity. On the pedestal, there is the CoA of the donator and his wife. The original is in Gorlice at Vyšehrad, the copy on the bridge was sculpted by V. Adamec and M. Pokorný in 1999.

St. Anne (also known as Ann or Anna, from Hebrew Hannah, meaning "favor" or "grace") of David's house and line, was the mother of the Virgin Mary and grandmother of Jesus Christ, according to Christian and Islamic tradition. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels, nor in the Qur'an. Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come only from New Testament apocrypha, of which the Protoevangelium of James (written perhaps around 150) seems to be the earliest that mentions them. [wiki]