Charles Bridge the 1870s, the first regular public-transport (omnibus) line went over the bridge (officially called "Charles Bridge" after 1870) later replaced by a horse tram. The bridge towers underwent a thorough reconstruction between 1874 and 1883. On 2–5 September 1890, another disastrous flood struck Prague and severely damaged Charles Bridge. Thousands of rafts, logs and other floating materials that escaped from places upstream gradually formed a huge barrier leaning against the bridge. Three arches were torn down by the great pressure and two pillars collapsed from being undermined by the water, while others were partly damaged. With the fifth pillar, two
Charles Bridge most of them baroque-style, originally erected around 1700 but now all replaced by replicas. Repairs are scheduled to start in late 2019, and should take around 20 years. Throughout its history, Charles Bridge has suffered several disasters and witnessed many historic events. Czech legend has it that construction began on Charles Bridge at 5:31am on 9 July 1357 with the first stone being laid by Charles IV himself. This exact time was very important to the Holy Roman Emperor because he was a strong believer in numerology and felt that this specific time, which formed a palindrome (1357 9, 7