Statue of St John of Nepomuk (c. 1345 - 1393), patron saint of bridges, cradling the crucified Christ. On the Alte Lahnbrücke (Old Lahn Bridge) in Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, Germany. The statue was created in 1966 by the German sculptor Karl Matthäus Winter (1932 - 2012). An original statue of 1714 is in the local archive.
Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, Germany: statue of St John of Nepomuk, cradling the crucified Christ and putting a finger to his lips to indicate silence, on the early 1300s AD Alte Lahnbrücke, a stone bridge over the River Lahn. The statue was created in 1966 by the German sculptor Karl Matthäus Winter (1932 - 2012). An original statue of 1714 is in the local archive. St John of Nepomuk (c. 1345 - 1393), patron saint of Bridges, was confessor of the queen of Bohemia. He refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional and was martyred in Prague: pushed off the Charles Bridge and drowned in the Vltava River on the orders of King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia. Statues of St John of Nepomuk are fairly common in Central Europe, particularly on bridges. He is usually portrayed - although not in this case - with a halo with five stars, a reminder that stars hovered over the Vltava River on the night of his murder. Other attributes are a priestly dress, the palm of martyrs, a large crucifix to which he looks, and a bible; he or additional figures such as angels indicate silence by putting a finger to the lips. Limburg moved up a gear in 1150 when a wooden bridge was constructed across the River Lahn, allowing a long-distance trade route from Cologne to Frankfurt, the Via Publica, to run directly through the settlement. In 1214, Limburg officially became a town. In 1306, the wooden bridge was replaced with a stone bridge, the Alte Lahnbrücke (Old Lahn Bridge), and bridge tolls paid by traveling merchants funded construction of magnificent buildings. Today, Limburg is one of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany.
Size: 4208px × 2805px
Location: Limburg an der Lahn, Hesse, Germany
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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