A linear stability analysis is applied to determine the onset of oscillatory thermocapillary convection in cylindrical liquid bridges of large Prandtl numbers (4 ⩽ Pr ⩽ 50). We focus on the relationships between the critical Reynolds number Re c , the azimuthal wave number m, the aspect ratio C and the Prandtl number Pr. A detailed Re c–Pr stability diagram is given for liquid bridges with various C. In the region of Pr > 1, which has been less studied previously and where Re c has been usually believed to decrease with the increase of Pr, we found Re c exhibits an early increase for liquid bridges with C around one. From the computed surface temperature gradient, it is concluded that the boundary layers developed at both solid ends of liquid bridges strengthen the stability of basic axisymmetric thermocap-illary convection at large Prandtl number, and that the stability property of the basic flow is determined by the ''effective'' part of liquid bridge.