On Charles Bridge, among the statues, stands one unusual cross. It bears a gilded crucifix with the body of Christ. Around his head, however, something unusual shines. It is a large gilded inscription in Hebrew. The letters proclaim: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts.” It is a quote from the book of the prophet Isaiah.

The cross on the bridge has stood since 1657. It is the oldest statue on the entire Charles Bridge. The bronze crucifix comes from Dresden and was installed by Jesuits in Prague. For a long time, however, there was no Hebrew inscription on it. That was added forty years later. And its story is very sad.

In 1694, a prominent Prague Jew named Elias Backoffen was arrested. The authorities accused him of desecrating the cross on the bridge. An intercepted encrypted letter served as evidence. But its content was never reliably deciphered by anyone. Yet the court found Backoffen guilty. It was not a fair trial. The decision was made rather for ideological reasons.

The punishment for the alleged blasphemy was paying for a gilded Hebrew inscription. The Prague Jewish community had to finance the inscription from their own resources. It was placed on the cross in 1696. For the Jewish community, it was a deep humiliation. They were forced to pay for an inscription that attributed divine attributes to Christ. This contradicted their faith.

In March 2000, three explanatory plaques were finally placed on the bridge by the cross. Texts in Czech, English, and Hebrew clarify the actual historical context. They explain that the inscription was created as a consequence of an unjust trial. In 2007, someone tore two Hebrew letters from the inscription. Divers later found them in the Vltava. The case was investigated as a possible religiously motivated act.