St John Nepomuk is the patron saint of the Czeshs. He is usually shown holding a crucifix. He was thrown in the river on May 16, 1383 by King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia: according to the acts of the canonization he had refused to betray the confession of the queen. He became a saint in 1729 in the frame of the efforts to recatholicize Bohemia.