Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Viewing Gallery
The parapet under the Old
Town Hall's roof affords visitors a
unique view of the square and
the Old Town below. Bring your
pocket change: K≤20 will buy you
two minutes on a miniature
telescope, with which you can
admire the entire Prague Valley.
Craft stalls lining The Green
Gothic Cellars
The cellars of the Old Town
Hall were once ground floor
rooms. The town was subject to
flooding, so more earth was
added to keep burghers' feet dry.
The spaces were used as
granaries and debtors' prisons.
The Green
Retreating German artillery
unloaded their guns on the Old
Town Hall's north wing to avoid
carrying the shells back to Berlin.
After the war, the wing was torn
down. Now the area is lined with
stalls selling Czech handicrafts.
Building the Old
Town Hall
Top 10 Features of
the Astronomical
Clock
1 Solar clock
2 Lunar clock
3 Josef Mánes Calendar
4 Apostles
5 Angel and the Sciences
6 Vanity, Avarice, Death
and Lust
7 Rooster
8 Hourly Shows
9 Master Hanu√
0 Dial
Prague's Old Town received its charter and
fortifications from John of Luxembourg in the mid-
13th century, but its town clerk had to wait nearly
150 years for an office. The Old Town Hall was
cobbled together from existing houses over the
centuries until it comprised the five houses that stand
at Starom
∂
stské nám
∂
stí 1-2 today. The hall's
eastern wing once stretched to within a few feet of
the door of the Church of St Nicholas
(see p15)
, but
German artillery reduced it to rubble in 1945. The
clock tower was installed in 1410, but the clock
wasn't up and running until 1572.
Medieval
Astrology
The Astronomical
Clock's face not
only tells the
current time, but
relates the
movement of the
planets around
earth and the
sun and moon
through the
signs of the
zodiac. It is
decorated with
paintings by
Josef Mánes.
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