The Lesser Town Bridge Tower is a national cultural monument. It is located at the entrance from the Charles Bridge to the Lesser Town and is one of two stylistically different towers of unequal height, connected by a gate. Its observation deck offers a stunning view of the flowing Vltava River and the historical centre of the city. The smaller Judith’s Tower has been used since 1927 by the Club for Old Prague. It is a Romanesque tower dating back to the 12th Century and its current Renaissance form is from 1591. Prague City Tourism operates the higher bridge tower. This was built after 1464 at the expense of George of Poděbrady on the site of an older Romanesque tower. Its form follows up on the concept of Parléř’s Old Town Bridge Tower. The building material consists of large sandstone blocks. Niches were built into the tower, for which monumental statues were probably planned but were never carried out. The tower underwent thorough repairs from 1874 to 1879 under the direction of architect Josef Mocker. The tower was used as a watchtower and a warehouse. The tower is about 43.5 m high without the pinnacles and spires, and the gallery is at 26 metres. It is open to the public. The gate between the towers opens onto Lesser Town. The gate has a lintel with a battlements bearing the emblems of the lands of Wenceslaus IV (the Luxembourg lion, Bohemian lion and Moravian eagle, below them the coat of arms of the Old Town on the bridge side, the Wroclaw eagle, the Bohemian lion, the Lower Lusatian coat of arms, below them the coat of arms of the Lesser Town in Mostecká Street). The gate was built after 1411 on the site of an older, undoubtedly Romanesque building. The Maltese cross is the symbol of the Lesser Town Bridge Tower. The lower bridge tower, also called Judith’s Tower, was part of the left bank fortifications that protected the grounds of the monastery of the Order of the Hospitaller Brothers of St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta (also known as the Johannites or later the Knights of Malta). The symbol of their order is an octagonal white cross. The monastery of the Order of the Knights of Malta was founded in the Lesser Town in 1159, as the first Bohemian commandery of the Order, which was established in Palestine in the 11th century to help the sick, protect Christian pilgrims against pagans and reclaim the Holy Land. The Prague Johannites were also called the “Crusaders of Our Lady’s Hospital in Prague at the Bridge End”, because their court was the first building at the end of this side of the bridge, at the site of today’s Lesser Town Bridge Tower.
