Saint Philip Benizi, Religious memorial statue on Charles Bridge, Czech Republic
The statue of Philip Benizi de Damiani is an outdoor sculpture by Michal Bernard Mandel on the north side of the Charles Bridge in Prague. It depicts the Servite friar Filip Benicius, installed in 1714.
The statue was installed in 1714 as a donation from the Servite convent in Prague, carved from Salzburg marble by sculptor Bernhard Michael Mandl. It was part of a wave of religious monuments added to the bridge over many centuries.
The statue shows Philip Benizi, a 13th-century Florentine friar and general superior of the Servite Order, the order founded in Florence in 1233. The Servite convent in Prague paid for the sculpture, which is why the city's Servites chose this saint for the bridge.
The statue sits on the north side of Charles Bridge and is easy to spot while walking across. Visitors can view it freely from the bridge's walkway without any entrance requirements.
The statue is one of the works on Charles Bridge attributed to Michal Bernard Mandel, the sculptor also linked to other figures on the bridge. Philip Benizi, a Servite friar, is shown in the habit of the order he led as general superior.
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