Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
TOP SIGHTS
ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK
OFFLINE MAP
Every hour, on the hour, crowds gather beneath the Old Town Hall Tower to
watch the Astronomical Clock in action. Despite a slightly underwhelming per-
formance that takes only 45 seconds, the clock is one of Europe's best-known
tourist attractions, and a 'must-see' for visitors to Prague. After all, it's historic,
photogenic and - if you take time to study it - rich in intriguing symbolism.
The Chimes
The Old Town Hall's original clock of 1410 was improved in 1490 by Master Hanuš,
producing the mechanical marvel you see today. Legend has it that Hanuš was blinded
afterwards so he could not duplicate his work elsewhere.
Four figures beside the clock represent the deepest civic anxieties of 15th-century
Praguers:
Vanity
(with a mirror),
Greed
(with his money bag; originally a Jewish
moneylender, but cosmetically altered after WWII),
Death
(the skeleton) and
Pagan
Invasion
(represented by a Turk). The four figures below these are the Chronicler,
Angel, Astronomer and Philosopher.
On the hour, Death rings a bell and inverts his hourglass, and the 12 Apostles
parade past the windows above the clock, nodding to the crowd. On the left side are
Paul (with a sword and a book), Thomas (lance), Jude (book), Simon (saw), Bartho-
lomew (book) and Barnabas (parchment); on the right side are Peter (with a key),
Matthew (axe), John (snake), Andrew (cross), Philip (cross) and James (mallet). At
the end, a cock crows and the hour is rung.
The Clock Face
On the upper face, the disk in the middle of the fixed part depicts the world known at
the time - with Prague at the centre, of course. The gold sun traces a circle through
the blue zone of day, the brown zone of dusk (Crepusculum in Latin) in the west (Oc-
casus), the black disc of night, and dawn (Aurora) in the east (Ortus). From this the
hours of sunrise and sunset can be read. The curved lines with black Arabic numerals
are part of an astrological 'star clock'.
