The Lost Gothic Statue of St. Wenceslas at the Old Town Bridge Tower
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Jana Gajdošová
Abstract
This article suggests that a Gothic statue of St. Wenceslas once stood in front of Prague’s Old Town Bridge Tower in a location where a miracle associated with the translation of the saint’s body occurred. Consequently, the statue complemented the east façade’s sculptural program but was also set away from it in order to signal the saint’s significance here. This location in turn encouraged the viewers below to interact with the statue in a very intimate way, and also to make a link between this canonized Bohemian ruler and Emperor Charles IV. The emperor’s own statue on the façade, fashioned with the symbols of St. Wenceslas, leaned out of its architectural niche in order to look down at the saint-king and to emphasize the link between the two rulers.
Photo Credits: 1, 3, 5 Author. – 2 Christopher Wilson. – 4, 6, 7 Archiv hl. města Prahy, Sbírka grafiky, sign. G 416 a, sign. G 119 a, and sign. G 294. – 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_cross#/media/File:QueenEleanorCross.JPG. – 9 Jessica Barker.
© 2017 Jana Gajdošová, published by De Gruyter
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze
- The Lost Gothic Statue of St. Wenceslas at the Old Town Bridge Tower
- Silver and Sanctified Bookkeeping: St. Eligius and the Smelting of Sin in the Wittenberg Heiligtum
- Verkörperung – Entkörperung bei Rembrandt
- »Gott segne Kupfer« Goethes Kunstbeschreibungen im Zeitalter der semitechnischen Reproduzierbarkeit
- Ornament und Abstraktion: die »Arabeske als Triebfeder der Moderne«?
- Buchbesprechungen
- Bosch and Bruegel. From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life
- Kritische Szenografie. Die Kunstausstellung im 21. Jahrhundert
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Aufsätze
- The Lost Gothic Statue of St. Wenceslas at the Old Town Bridge Tower
- Silver and Sanctified Bookkeeping: St. Eligius and the Smelting of Sin in the Wittenberg Heiligtum
- Verkörperung – Entkörperung bei Rembrandt
- »Gott segne Kupfer« Goethes Kunstbeschreibungen im Zeitalter der semitechnischen Reproduzierbarkeit
- Ornament und Abstraktion: die »Arabeske als Triebfeder der Moderne«?
- Buchbesprechungen
- Bosch and Bruegel. From Enemy Painting to Everyday Life
- Kritische Szenografie. Die Kunstausstellung im 21. Jahrhundert
