Náměšť nad Oslavou bridge () is a

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

bridge in the town of

Náměšť nad Oslavou Náměšť nad Oslavou () is a town in Třebíč District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument z ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. It is an

arch An arch is a curved vertical structure spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th millennium BC, but stru ...

ed road

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

with sculptural decoration by Josef Winterhalder. It is the second largest Czech bridge with the richest sculptural decoration following the

Charles Bridge Charles Bridge ( , ) is a medieval stone arch bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the early 15th century.; The bridge replaced ...

hence it is sometimes referred to as the "Little Charles Bridge". It was built by Count Václav Adrian of Enkenvoirt in 1737.The statues were added around 1744 when they were ordained. Today the bridge is designed for pedestrian traffic only.

Description

The bridge that spans the

Oslava The Oslava is a river in the Czech Republic, a left tributary of the Jihlava (river), Jihlava River. It flows through the Vysočina Region, Vysočina and South Moravian Region, South Moravian regions. At , it is the List of rivers of the Czech Rep ...

river has a straight, unbroken ground plan, it is 62 meters long and 8 meters wide. The bridge deck is slightly arched and thus the highest bridge point is 6.2 meters above the river. The railing is 0.5 meters wide, each of the three triangular pillars, which are connected by elliptical arches, is 2 meters wide. The span of the largest arch is 10 meters, its height is 5 meters. A total of twenty

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

sculptures beautifies the bridge, ten on each side. They are about 2 m high, made of one piece of material. The bridge itself is built of

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

, it is plastered. The road is paved with

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

cobblestone Cobblestone is a natural building material based on Cobble (geology), cobble-sized stones, and is used for Road surface, pavement roads, streets, and buildings. Sett (paving), Setts, also called ''Belgian blocks'', are often referred to as " ...

s. In the past, the bridge was built to connect the Náměšť nad Oslavou Castle with the town. In modern days a main thoroughfare between

Třebíč Třebíč (; ) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 35,000 inhabitants. The beginnings of the town's history are connected with the establishment of a Benedictines, Benedictine monastery, where the castle is loca ...

and

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

led through it until 1986.

History

The bridge was built after 1733, when the estate owner Jan Filip Werdenberk died. The estate went to Václav Adrian of Enckevoirt who initiated the bridge construction on the site of a previous bridge pulled down by the flood. New bridge's decoration was already in the patronage of the other estate owners – Marie Francis and Hanus Leopold of Kufstein. Both were very pious

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and thus had the bridge fitted with twenty statues of

saint In Christianity, Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of sanctification in Christianity, holiness, imitation of God, likeness, or closeness to God in Christianity, God. However, the use of the ...

s and

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

s. The ensemble was to be completed in 1744. Two years later Haugwitz family bought the estate. In 1812 the bridge was damaged by the July flood and Henry William III Haugwitz had it repaired. The bridge underwent additional reconstructions in 1907, in 1932 and in 1984. In 1984 the sculptures were restored as well and their copies were made. The originals were placed in the castle, in the underground hall called Lutheran. During the great flood of 1985, the bridge was not significantly damaged, however it suffered from the heavy traffic, on average 5000 cars per day. One year later a new bridge over the Oslava river was completed and all the bridge traffic was diverted to it. Further reconstruction took place in 1989 and was completed three years later. However, in 2019 it was announced that the bridge is in a state of disrepair despite the 1989 reconstruction. At that time a

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

slab spanning the stone arches was put in to strengthen the bridge structure. However, it prevented it from expanding and shrinking with temperature changes instead and this caused cracks to develop in its structure. New reconstruction is scheduled to start in 2020 with the budgeted cost in millions of

CZK The koruna, or crown (currency sign, sign: Kč; ISO 4217, code: CZK, ), has been the currency of the Czech Republic since 1993. The koruna is one of the European Union's eight currencies, and the Czech Republic is legally bound to Czech Repub ...

Statues

On the bridge there are 16 statues of saints and 4 statues of angels created between 1737 and 1744. Originally it was assumed that all the statues were sculpted by Josef Winterhalder the Elder, but a formal analysis and preserved sketches proved that he involved in the creation of only eight to twelve statues. However, the rest of the figurative decoration was created by other authors, mainly by the Czech sculptor Alexander Jelínek, according to his design. The angels at both ends of the bridge, the

Archangel Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

, the

Archangel Michael Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second ...

, the Archangel Rafael and the angel at the gates of heaven, were supposed to protect the entrance to the town. The statues of saints represent a

celestial Celestial may refer to: Science * Objects or events seen in the sky and the following astronomical terms: ** Astronomical object, a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists in the observable universe ** Celest ...

army with

patrons Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

of the town and the owners of the estate. They are mostly saints who were popular at the time the sculptures were designed and who are often portrayed (

St. John of Nepomuk John of Nepomuk (or John Nepomucene) (; ; ) ( 1345 – 20 March 1393) was a saint of Bohemia (a western part of what is now the Czech Republic) who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. Later accounts st ...

St. Anne According to apocrypha, as well as Christian and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary, the wife of Joachim and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the Bible's canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's na ...

, St. Francis, St. Leopold, St. Wenceslaus, St. Theresa,

St. Cajetan Gaetano dei Conti di Thiene (6 October 1480 – 7 August 1547), known in English as Saint Cajetan ( ), was an Italian Catholic priest and religious reformer, co-founder of the Theatines. He is recognised as a saint in the Catholic Church, and hi ...

, St. Philip of Neri).

Recognition

It was declared a

cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage registe ...

in 1958. It has been part of the

urban monument zone since 1990. In 2012 the

Czech National bank The Czech National Bank, (, ČNB) is the central bank and financial market supervisor in the Czech Republic, headquartered in Prague. It is a member of the European System of Central Banks. It was established on from the division of the State ...

issued a 5000 CZK commemorative gold coin as part of the ''Bridges in the Czech Republic'' series. The coin was designed by Martin Dašek.

Gallery

Statue of angel from the heaven gate in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of the angel at the gate of heaven Statue of archangel Gabriel in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of archangel Gabriel Statue of archangel Michael in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of archangel Michael Statue of archangel Rafael in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of archangel Rafael Statue of Saint Andrew in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Andrew Statue of Saint Anne with Mary in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Anne with Mary Statue of Saint Cajetan in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Cajetan Statue of Saint Cecilia in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Cecilia Statue of Saint Florian in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Florian Statue of Saint Francis of Assisi in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Francis of Assisi Statue of Saint Francis of Paola in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Francis of Paola Statue of Saint Joachim in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Joachim Statue of Saint John of Nepomuk in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint John of Nepomuk Statue of Saint Lawrence in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Lawrence Statue of Saint Leopold in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Leopold Statue of Saint Paul in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Paul Statue of Saint Peter in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Peter Statue of Saint Philip Neri in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Philip Neri Statue of Saint Teresa of Ávila in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Theresa of Ávila Statue of Saint Wenceslaus in Náměšť nad Oslavou, Třebíč District.jpg, Statue of Saint Wenceslaus

References

{{Reflist Stone bridges Arch bridges in the Czech Republic Bridges completed in 1744 Bridges in the Czech Republic Třebíč District Baroque architecture in the Czech Republic Pedestrian bridges in the Czech Republic Tourist attractions in the Czech Republic