Ovčí lávka, Stone bridge in Podmokly, Czech Republic

Ovčí lávka is a single-arch stone bridge over the Jílovský potok in Podmokly, 18 m long and 4 m wide, with a sharply raised arch 1.5 m high and 6.7 m above the stream. It is built of sandstone blocks laid in lime mortar, with the arch and parapet ends of dressed sandstone and a roadway paved with basalt cobbles.

A wooden footbridge on sandstone pillars was built here in 1561 by Günter von Bünau as sheep farming and pastures expanded. The Thun family replaced it with the present stone bridge in 1705–1706, probably under master mason Michel Windrich. In the 19th century a road bridge for the I/13 was added alongside; it was demolished and rebuilt in 2018, and the Ovčí most was repaired the same year.

The name Ovčí mostek (Sheep Bridge) comes from a legend: Günter z Bünau asked local farmers to help pay for the bridge, and when they refused, he had it built so sheep could cross but their carts could not. The sandstone bridge over the Jílovský potok is protected as a cultural monument of the Czech Republic.

Ovčí lávka crosses the Jílovský potok beside the road bridge on Pivovarská street in Podmokly, on the road I/13 route; the road bridge was rebuilt in 2018 and the footbridge repaired the same year. Approach on foot along Pivovarská; the deck is paved with basalt cobbles and the steep approach suits pedestrians only.

The bridge is designated as both a technical monument and a cultural monument of the Czech Republic, making it doubly protected. This dual recognition shows how practical engineering works from the past can also hold cultural value for a nation's heritage.