Restaging Remnants of the Past: Royal Sculpture in Charles IV’s Prague

Abstract

This article brings together two monuments—the sculptural programs on the towers of the Charles Bridge and the tomb effigies of Přemyslid rulers in Prague Cathedral—to explore the ways that dynastic history could be manipulated through public sculpture. Both programs are examples of Charles IV’s broader retrospective approach; their designs preserve remnants of the past and create historical narratives that communicate the rebirth of the Bohemian crown with a new Luxembourg dynasty. The Gothic bridge and its sculptural program fused the past with the present by incorporating a twelfth-century tower and its royal relief into its fabric. This older remnant was restaged by the structure that it fortified, while the Gothic tower on the opposite bank, with a royal sculptural program, was simultaneously designed to formulate a new narrative. Similarly, the adornment, arrangement, and relocation of the Přemyslid ancestors to the choir of Prague Cathedral created a unified program that embodied a physical remnant of the old basilica and the old dynasty; the remains were represented by monumental tombs that made history visible and memorable. Together, these two programs fashioned Charles as the bridge between the past and the future while following a trend that saw sculpture and architecture reinvented to glorify the history and antiquity of certain sites, even if that antiquity was newly conceived or manipulated.