The fourth oldest stone bridge in the country with three arches, owned by the city, needs regular repairs because it is made of sandstone and water, Mayor Martin Sobotka (Aktivní Dobřany) told TK today.

“The wall covering of the bridge fence is being repaired, both from the inside and from the outside. The fence walls will also be additionally insulated by chemical injection. Later there will be new facade cladding,” said the mayor. Repairs for the 1.15 million crowns should be completed by the end of August.

Cars have not crossed the bridge since the 1960s, when a new bridge was built on the main road connecting the main routes from Pilsen to Domažlice and from Pilsen to Klatov. The old bridge is used by cyclists, pedestrians and light vehicles.

Written sources mention the bridge from 1585, when Emperor Rudolf II. Give the city the privilege of collecting tolls on the bridge. In 1794 it was rebuilt to its present form and in 1879 it was structurally modified. Between 1993 and 1995, the builders undertook a thorough renovation, and three years later a copy of the St. Jan Nepomuck. The original statue was destroyed during World War II. The statue will return to its place, according to Sobotka, the design of the model has been assigned to the academic sculptor Jaroslav Indelář.

In the Middle Ages, there was a ford where the bridge was. Stone bridges served for centuries on the road from Dobřany to Chotěšov, where the old trade route led further west. The bridge is over four meters wide and five meters high.