Prague, June 3 (CTK) – Dozens of people in period costumes with horses, ponies and wagons took part in a royal procession evoking the 14th-century parade of King of Bohemia and Roman Emperor Charles IV (1316-1378) that set out from the Prague-Radotin district to Karlstejn Castle today.
The event is held within the celebrations of the 670th anniversary of his coronation as king of Bohemia.
The participants will walk and ride on horseback through Cernosice and Mokropsy to Dobrichovice near Prague where they will spend the night. They will continue to Karlstejn on Sunday.
The event is based on a historical legend, saying Charles IV annually brought the crown jewels from Karlstejn to show them to Praguers at the Cattle Market, current Charles Square, in the New Town of Prague and then he returned the jewels to the sanctuary he built for them in this castle in central Bohemia, about 30 km southwest of Prague.
People could see the replicas of historical artifacts, such as the royal crown and sceptre, in Radotin today.
The local footbridge across the Berounka River was decorated with almost 30 replicas of statues of the saints and marked as Charles Bridge, the oldest stone bridge in Prague that Charles IV founded in 1357.
The organisers were distributing small red flags with the Czech lion, the national emblem.
The programme in Radotin also offered medieval dances. Concerts of popular bands will take place in the evening.
The programme will continue in Karlstejn on Sunday.
Charles IV, whose mother was the last princess from the Czech Royal House of Premyslids and father came from the Luxembourg family, was King of Bohemia in 1346-78 and the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1355. During his reign, the Bohemian kingdom became a political, cultural and spiritual centre of Europe. He founded the oldest university in Central and Northern Europe in Prague in 1348.
