St. Ludmila with infant St. Wenceslas on Charles Bridge / Sv. Ludmila s malým sv. Václavem na Karlove moste (Prague) - Statues of Religious Figures on Waymarking.com

Depicted Baroque sculptural group of St. Ludmila with infant St. Wenceslas (Sv. Ludmila s malým sv. Václavem) 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.

Baroque sculptural group of St. Ludmila with infant St. Wenceslas is the 8th one on the left looking from the Old Town Bridge Tower. The sandstone sculptural group of St. Ludmila teaching little St. Wenceslas to read is probably work of the workshop of Matthias Bernard Braun (after 1720). St. Ludmila is holding a veil, with which she was strangled, in her left hand. Her right hand is pointing out words in the Bible to teach her grandson St. Wenceslas to read. The relief on the pedestal depicts the murder of St. Wenceslas. The statue replaced the statuary of St. Wenceslas standing between two angels that was made by Italian sculptor Ottavio Mosto (1659-1701) in 1696 and fell into the river during the flood of 1784. The statue on the bridge is a copy made by Jan Kacer and M. Kacerová in 1999. The original is in Gorlice at Vyšehrad. The torso of the original statue made by Ottavio Mosto is now in the Lapidarium of the National Museum - some of its parts were not retrieved from the river until 2004.

Saint Ludmila (c. 860 – 15 September 921) is a Czech saint and martyr venerated by the Orthodox and the Roman Catholics. She was born in Melník as daughter of a Slavic prince Slavibor. Saint Ludmila was the grandmother of Saint Wenceslaus, who is widely referred to as Good King Wenceslaus.

Wenceslaus I (Czech: Václav; c. 907 – September 28, 935), or Wenceslas I, was the duke (kníže) of Bohemia from 921 until his assassination in 935, purportedly in a plot by his own brother, Boleslav the Cruel. His martyrdom, and the popularity of several biographies, quickly gave rise to a reputation for heroic goodness, resulting in his being elevated to sainthood, posthumously declared king, and seen as the patron saint of the Czech state. He is the subject of "Good King Wenceslas", a Saint Stephen's Day carol written over 900 years later, in 1853, that remains popular to this day. [wiki]