Křesomysl's Ferry and the Oldest Bridges

Before weirs were built within the bounds of Prague, people crossed the river at fords. Duke Křesomysl is said to have had an uncommonly large boat built in 857 to ferry them over. As the settlements below the castle grew on both banks, a bridge soon rose here, perhaps of wood or of boats — by one legend already under Duke Alnata in 795, by others only in 1008 under Oldřich. Still others insist that in 932, when the body of Saint Wenceslas was carried from Boleslav to the castle, no bridge stood here at all, or that it had just been swept away by a flood. Schaller held that a bridge existed as early as Libuše's day, running from the present Rudolfinum to the Bruska.