Charles Bridge

My whole Prague trip can be found here.

 Ashlee and I on the Charles Bridge.

I could attempt to remember the entire story behind this statue, or I could just copy the story off of Wiki for you.  I do remember that the modern Prague Jews find the Hebrew text to be offensive, but the Charles Bridge is a UNESCO site, so offensive isn't quite grounds for removal.

Courtesy of Wiki: The golden Hebrew text on the crucifix was added in 1696. In 1696, the Prague authorities accused a local Jewish leader of blasphemy. As his punishment he was ordered to raise the funds for purchasing of gold-plated Hebrew letters, placed around the head of the statue, spelling out "Holy, Holy, Holy, the Lord of Hosts." The inscription was a symbolic humiliation and degradation of Prague Jews, forcing them to pay for a set of golden letters referring to God and hung around the neck of the statue of Christ (information from Steven Plaut, The "Vav" from the Charles Bridge).

History has a funny way of killing people off.  And the Czech people remember St. John of Nepomuk in a very special way with this plaque.  The confessor of the queen, St. John was a respected priest in the 14th century kingdom.  Unfortunately, as the queen's confessor he also knew all of her sins.  This led King Wenceslaus to demand St. John reveal the queen's secrets.  If you're familiar with Catholicism, you know that a priest cannot speak about the sacrament of confession, also called the seal of Confession.  In the end, he was thrown off the Charles bridge in about this spot.