Cloak Bridge, Stone skyway in Plešivec, Czech Republic.
The Cloak Bridge is a multi-storey bridge over the castle moat in Český Krumlov, connecting the Upper Castle with the Baroque castle theatre, the 5th courtyard and the castle garden. It has three arched tiers with pillars, an open roofed storey with sculptures, and three closed storeys with two connecting corridors.
In the Middle Ages a moat was dug here and crossed by a footbridge with a drawbridge. The Cloak Bridge was built in stages in 1686, 1707, 1748 and 1765, and its Baroque form is credited to Duke Josef I. Adam of Schwarzenberg (1722–1782), who also had the castle rebuilt and its Baroque theatre constructed.
The structure displays sculptures of four Christian saints positioned along its length. These figures shaped how people experienced this passage and reflected the spiritual importance of the place for those who crossed it regularly.
The bridge spans the castle moat between the Upper Castle and the Baroque theatre and V courtyard, with a lower corridor linking the Masquerade Hall to the theatre and an upper corridor running from the picture gallery to the garden and on to the Minorite monastery in Latrán. The open arcaded level carries copies of four Baroque statues; the originals are kept in the castle lapidarium.
The bridge carries copies of four Baroque statues on its masonry parapet: St. Anthony of Padua, St. Felix of Cantalice, St. Wenceslas and St. John of Nepomuk. The originals are kept in the castle lapidarium.
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