Sculpture of St. Ivo

The sculpture of St. Ivo was commissioned from the workshop of the Prague sculptor Matthias Bernard Braun by representatives of the Faculty of Law at Charles University. The original work from 1711 is stored in the Lapidarium of the National Museum; the copy, carved from Doubrava sandstone and installed on Charles Bridge in 1908, was made by sculptor František Hergesel. St. Ivo, a lawyer, priest, and advocate for the poor who were unjustly oppressed and unfairly judged, is depicted here in a robe and cap. He’s standing on a tall cylindrical pedestal, bending down towards a widow with a child and an old man, lamenting at his feet. The figure standing to his right, holding a sword and blindfolded, is an allegorical representation of Justice. The authorship of the distinctly shaped pedestal is attributed to architect Giovanni Battista Alliprandi, Jan Blažej Santini Aichel, or Francis Maxmillian Kaňka. Below the inscription cartouche, on the elevated central section, the pedestal bears a medallion with a relief depicting St. Ivo’s Mass for the reconciliation of mother and son.