Sculpture of St. Augustine

The sculpture of St. Augustine, one of the Church Fathers and the principal patron saint of the Augustinian Order, was made in the workshop of sculptor Hieronymus Kohl (1708) for the Augustinians of St. Thomas Church. The saint is depicted in a bishop’s robe, with a miter on his head and a bishop’s crozier in his left hand; his raised right hand clutches a flaming heart, a symbol of faith and love for God. The putto with a shell at Augustine’s feet refers to the legend according to which the saint encountered a child on the shore. The child was using a shell to pour water from the sea into a hollow in the sand. After discussing the effectiveness of the child’s efforts, Augustine recognized in the boy a parable of God’s patience with the human race. The original sculpture is stored in the Gorlitz Chapel at Vyšehrad; the one on the bridge is a replica carved from Hořice sandstone between 1967 and 1970 by sculptors Alois Sopr and J. Dušek.