Statue of John of Nepomuk in Spálená street, Prague

The statue of Saint John of Nepomuk on Spálená street is a Baroque sculpture group set inside a Cubist niche in Prague's New Town. It's one of the few spots in the city where an eighteenth-century religious sculpture and early-twentieth-century avant-garde architecture share the same frame — a combination that tends to stop passers-by walking along Spálená.

Where exactly is the statue?

The sculpture stands on Spálená street in Nové Město (New Town), one of the historic core districts of Prague, at coordinates 50.079433, 14.419728. The block is densely lined with late-19th and early-20th-century apartment buildings, so it's easy to walk past the niche without noticing it — look up at the façades rather than only at the shop windows at street level.

Who was John of Nepomuk, and why is he honored here?

John of Nepomuk is one of the most frequently depicted saints in Central European sculpture. A canon of Prague's cathedral chapter, his death in the waters of the Vltava in the 14th century made him the patron of the seal of confession and of protection against drowning and flooding. That history is why his statues so often appear near bridges, riverbanks, and wells throughout the region, and Prague alone holds dozens of his likenesses scattered across the city. The Spálená statue is one of them, even though this particular spot isn't directly over water.

Why does the statue sit inside a Cubist niche from 1913?

The sculpture occupies an architectural niche built in the Cubist style in 1913, and that setting is what makes the location unusual. Prague is the only city in the world that developed Cubism into a full architectural style, and finding a Baroque devotional statue framed by it shows how early-20th-century architects chose to incorporate an older sacred element into a new urban composition rather than remove it.

Who made the statue, and when was it created?

The pedestal carries a dedicatory inscription from the Trinitarian order, with a chronogram encoding the year 1717 as the date of the sculpture group. Authorship is most commonly attributed to Michal Jan Josef Brokoff, a member of the Brokoff family of sculptors best known for numerous statues on Charles Bridge. That attribution places the Spálená statue within the wider body of Prague Baroque sculpture produced by the same workshop.

What happened to the statue over the years?

The sculpture's condition deteriorated over time, and the pedestal in particular reached a state that made further delay untenable. Following a change in city administration, the statue was transferred into the care of the Prague City Gallery (Galerie hlavního města Prahy). It was removed together with two accompanying angel figures and taken to storage, where conservators took over the restoration work. Once the work was finished, the full sculpture group was returned to its original spot on Spálená street.

Frequently asked questions

Where exactly is the statue of John of Nepomuk on Spálená? On Spálená street in Prague's New Town (Nové Město), at coordinates 50.079433, 14.419728.

What is the statue made of? It's a stone Baroque sculpture group, typical of the devotional saint figures produced in Prague in the early 18th century.

Who created the statue? The sculpture is most often attributed to Michal Jan Josef Brokoff, from the Brokoff family of sculptors known for their work on Charles Bridge.

Is the statue still in its original location? Yes. After being removed for conservation and stored under the care of the Prague City Gallery, the full group was returned to its historic spot on Spálená.

What is the niche around the statue? It's a Cubist architectural niche dating from 1913, one of the rare cases where Baroque religious sculpture is set within Prague's Cubist architecture.