Building the stone arches (photo: Karluvmost2010.cz)

Roadway, important feat of engineering - and eternal construction site, work of art, and ongoing source of unresolved mysteries, legends, and myths. Charles Bridge is all this and more. A new photographic exhibit on Kampa Island presents the many sides of this famous landmark. The exhibit is outdoors on large panels, meaning that it is "open" seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

The exhibition consists of historical drawings, archival and contemporary photographs, documentary materials showing the bridges' construction and destruction (during a flood in 1890), maps, diagrams and more… all showing the past, present, and future of this famous bridge.

Construction on Charles Bridge began in 1357, to replace an earlier stone bridge (the Judith Bridge) that had been destroyed by floods. For a long time, it was the only connection between the right and left banks of town (i.e. between the Old Town and the Lesser Town). The bridge has served pedestrian and cart traffic, later also cars and streetcars. Today, it is open to pedestrians only. It has witnessed tragic as well as dramatic events in Czech history, but always remained an important lifeline and symbol of Prague.

The exhibition "Charles Bridge 2010" is open until July 12 on Kampa Island, on the square just south of the bridge (take the stairway on the bridge's southern side).