The Prague Astronomical Clock at the Old Town Square is one of the main attractions in Prague, on side of the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle. What fascinates me the most about the clock is that it’s already more than 600 years old, and still working! Each full hour there is a huge number of spectators below the Prague astronomical clock or Prague orloj, to watch “The Walk of the Apostles“. You find a short Video of it below.
First installed in the year 1410 the astronomical clock in Prague is the third oldest worldwide, but the absolutely oldest one that is still working. You can find it on the southern wall of the Old Town Hall in the Old Town Square. You can also climb the tower for a few CZK and enjoy a nice view over Prague. But not everything you see as the Prague Astronomical Clock was built in 1410. The Clock itself, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, was built by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, in 1410. Later, presumably around 1490, the calendar dial was added and clock facade was decorated with gothic sculptures. What’s very cruel about the astronomical clock in Prague was that the main clockmaker behind it was blinded afterwards so that he could not repeat his work, on the order of the Prague Councillors. How absolutely mean the world these days was! In turn, he, Mikuláš of Kadaň, broke down the clock and in the following hundred years no one was able to repair it.
The first big repair was in the year 1552 by Jan Taborský, nevertheless, the clock broke several times since then. Less than 100 years later the wooden statues were added as well as “the Walk of the Apostles”. Major repairs followed until the Astronomical Clock was almost completely destroyed during the Prague Uprising in May 1945. After another heavy restorations and repairs, the Clock worked again in 1948. The last renovation was in 2008, two years before the Prague Astronomical Clock celebrated its 600th Anniversary on October 9th, 2010.
