Sv. Jan Nepomucký / St. John of Nepomuk (Praha - Bubenec)
N 50° 06.235 E 014° 24.494
33U E 457681 N 5550352
Depicted sandstone statue of St. John of Nepomuk (Sv. Jan Nepomucký) you can find in the Baroque niche-chapel bearing the same name located in the wall surrounding the church of St. Gotthard (Kostel Sv. Gotharda) in Prague's district Bubenec.
Waymark Code: WMAW6Y
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 03/02/2011
Views: 135
Depicted sandstone statue of St. John of Nepomuk (Sv. Jan Nepomucký) you can find in the Baroque niche-chapel bearing the same name located in the wall surrounding the church of St. Gotthard (Kostel Sv. Gotharda) in Prague's district Bubenec. The statue and chapel are work of unknown artists from the second half of the 18th century.
St. John of Nepomuk was a person, who refused to betray a secret, confided to him by Queen Sophia, to the king Wenceslas IV. He was tortured on the king´s demand and then thrown to the river Vltava from the Charles Bridge in 1393. The inseparable attributes of St. John of Nepomuk statue are the five stars, a surplice, a cross and a martyr´s palm tree. The five stars allegedly appeared above the river, after the martyr was thrown there. They are supposed to symbolize the five letters of Latin word "tacet", which means "silent". There is a brassy cross with five stars at the place on the parapet, where he was thrown to the river. If you place your hand on the cross, so that every finger will touch one star, you can wish something and it will be fulfilled. People also touch the relief on the statue for luck.