Prague: Old Town Hall and Astronimical Clock

A highlight of our time in Prague was visiting Old Town Hall and seeing the astrological Clock.

Since 1784 Old Town Hall has served as the sole town hall of the 4 united Prague historical boroughs (Old Town, Lesser Town, Hrdcany and New Town).

Our tour included the town hall chapel, mayor salon, and the cellars. (due to flooding, the entire town of Prague was raised thus changing the cellars from street level to below the ground).


On the south side of the Hall is the astronomical clock which was mounted in 1410.

The clock itself keeps several versions of time:
2 outer rings show the hour: Gold Gothic numbers on black background 0-23 which supposedly counts from sunset, and modern time shown via Roman Numerals.
Arcing lines and moving spheres combine with the big hand (a sun) and little hand (moon) to indicate the sunrise (day- blue zone) and sunset (night- black zone).

Much of what is seen today is a reconstruction due to the vast amount of damage from WWII and a fire that destroyed the South tower in 1945.

The second circle shows the signs of the zodiac, scenes from the seasons and a ring of saints names (one for each day of the year).

4 statues flank the clock:
A Turk with a mandolin symbolizes hedonism
A Jewish moneylender symbolizes greed
A figure staring into the mirror symbolizes vanity
A figure of death- whose hourglass reminds us that our time is running out

At the top of the hour,
Death tips his hourglass and pulls the cord, which rings the bell
Then the windows open and the 12 apostles parade by and the the rooster crows to mark the hour.

(We were able to view the apostles up close during our tour of the Hall)

It was very interesting to watch the hour chime and to focus on different aspects of the clock. It was everything that I hoped it would be and I am so glad we saw it up close.