Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
To the right of Sponza Palace is the town's
Bell Tower
(Gradski Zvonik). The original
dated from 1444, but it was rebuilt when it started to lean in the 1920s. The big clock may
be an octopus, but only one of its hands tells time. Below that, the golden circle shows the
phaseofthemoon.Atthebottom,theold-fashioneddigitalreadouttellsthehour(inRoman
numerals) and the minutes (in five-minute increments). At the top of each hour (and again
three minutes later), the time is clanged out on the bell up top by two bronze bell-ringers,
Maro and Baro. (If this all seems like a copy of the very similar clock on St. Mark's Square
in Venice, locals are quick to point out that this clock predates that one by several decades.)
The clock still has to be wound every two days. Notice the little window between the moon
