The first cross was standing on the Charles bridge since the 14th century, documented by chronicles of the Roman emperor Charles IV and in 1606 by Aegidius Sadeler's Prospect od Prague.
The main statue of the Jesus on the cross was cast in bronze by Hans Hillger in Dresden after the model made by sculptor Wolf Ernst Brohn in 1628, in an early baroque style. The statue was set on the Charles bridge only in 1657.
Calvary hill was made of stone by the sculptor Johann Georg Heermann in 1707.
Both side statues of Virgin Mary and Saint John were added by Emanuel Max in 1861.[1]
The sculpture features a crucifix surrounded by the Hebrew words קדוש קדוש קדוש יהוה צבאות ("kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, Adonai Tzva’ot" ; English: holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts) from the Kedushah prayer. In 1696, a Jewish communal leader named Elias Backoffen was forced to pay for the inscription after being accused of blasphemy. The aleph in the word "Tzva’ot" is backwards, as the letter was removed by the Nazis during the occupation of Czechoslovakia, and later mistakenly placed after the war. The vav in the word "Adonai" has gone missing. In 2009, explanatory plaques were added in English, Czech and Hebrew after the Mayor of Prague was petitioned by a group of North American rabbis.[2]
