Works on Charles Bridge in 2026

Is Charles Bridge closed for works in 2026?

No. The 2026 works were on the piers and walls, done from ropes and a boat, and the bridge stayed open to pedestrians throughout.

The visible job this year began on Monday 20 July 2026. A specialist stonemasonry firm, under a restorer's supervision, started removing weeds, self-seeded shrubs and algae from the bridge's outer walls and piers. Workers hung from ropes on the walls and treated the lower parts of the piers from a boat, with water at controlled pressure, nylon brushes and wooden spatulas. Where roots had grown between the stones, the joints were cut out two to three centimetres deep and refilled with traditional lime mortar.

TSK described it as several weeks of work and said in its announcement that "pedestrian traffic on Charles Bridge itself will remain unrestricted" (our translation). It gave no end date. If you see climbers on the arches this autumn, that is what they are doing.

What has been repaired on Charles Bridge in recent years?

The deck and parapets in 2007 to 2010, the oak ice breakers in front of the piers in 2019, sections of the stone parapet, the steps to Kampa and the plinth of St Luitgard.

The big renovation of 2007 to 2010 rebuilt the deck, its waterproofing, the paving and the parapet. It was meant as the first phase of a much longer job, and UNESCO's committee criticised parts of it. In 2019 TSK replaced the oak ice breakers that shield the seven piers in the main channel, at a cost of 29.5 million CZK, ČTK reported at the time. The same report said the overall restoration would resume with the arches, a programme expected to take about 20 years.

In July 2025 TSK listed its smaller recent jobs in a post on the bridge: cleaning and consolidating sections of the stone parapet, rebuilding stairs such as the one from the bridge down to Kampa, and a difficult repair of the plinth under Braun's Baroque statue of St Luitgard. We found no start date for the arches anywhere in 2026. Our honest reading: the 20-year job has not visibly started, and nothing suggests it will close the bridge when it does.

Are the statues on Charles Bridge originals or copies in 2026?

Mostly copies, but not all: the city has been swapping originals for replicas for decades, one group at a time, and a few older works still stand on the bridge.

Copies have been placed on the bridge since the early 20th century, and the removed originals went to the National Museum's Lapidarium at Výstaviště and the Gorlice casemates at Vyšehrad. The swap is not complete. When the restored group of Christ the Saviour with Sts Cosmas and Damian went back in 2013, ČT24 reported that eleven original Baroque groups were still on the bridge and that the city might move all of them indoors over time.

Since then the work has gone on quietly. St Francis Borgia came back as a replica in 2017, the gallery has restored Brokoff's St Vitus group (GHMP project page), and in August 2022 restorers took down Böhm's 1858 St Wenceslas because its sandstone plinth was crumbling, Deník reported. We found no statue removal announced for 2026, but gaps do appear without warning, sometimes for months.

For visitors the practical answer is simple. Every statue you see is in its historical place, the bronze reliefs under St John of Nepomuk are still polished by hands every day, and the statues guide goes through them one by one. To see originals, the Lapidarium is the place.

What is happening at the bridge towers?

Prague City Tourism plans to restore the old doors of the Lesser Town Bridge Towers and survey the Old Town tower's facade; both towers stay open.

In November 2022 Prague City Tourism announced a complete restoration of the Old Town Bridge Tower: stonework, roof, wiring, the worn stair surfaces and the decoration, expected to take about four years and to cost several hundred million crowns, starting with a building-history survey and photogrammetry of the stone. The Lesser Town tower was not part of that plan, as its harder stone has weathered better.

The schedule has moved. In December 2025 the company's spokeswoman said that in 2026 it would restore the historic doors of the Lesser Town Bridge Towers, the ones onto the walkway that links the two towers, and carry out a survey of the Old Town tower's facade. No closure has been announced. The official tower page shows normal opening hours, and both towers sell tickets as usual.

Where can you learn how the bridge is built and repaired?

At the Charles Bridge Museum at the Old Town end, which has a large model of the medieval building site and covers the later repairs.

The Charles Bridge Museum sits in the Knights of the Cross building on Křižovnické náměstí, right by the bridge. Its centrepiece is a detailed model of the Gothic construction, with hundreds of tiny workers and the machinery they used, and the displays carry the story on to the floods and repairs. Guests report a visit takes 30 to 45 minutes. The museum lists daily hours of 10:00 to 18:00 from October to April.

The ticket also comes free with the canal cruise, which shows you the piers and their ice breakers from the water. That pairing is the closest a visitor gets to the parts of the bridge the restorers work on.

Entry to the Charles Bridge Museum at the Old Town end: the medieval building site in miniature, and the story of the floods and repairs.

★ 4.2 · About 1 hour · from $10

Check dates → Tour details

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