Prague Old Town City Guide: The Clock Tower - Travel & Discover

In the 13th century, the Emperor conferred an independence charter to the Old Town, a district of merchants and of rich aristocrats. It remained a self-governing jurisdiction until 1784, when the four historic towns were united to become a single entity. In the 14th century, the community decided to build a town hall to serve as the seat of the independent municipal council. Due to a lack of money, the council first set up its headquarters in a small building on the square. This became bigger by the gradual purchase of adjoining houses throughout the centuries, the building of a big tower, of a chapel, and finally of the eastern wing. The Old Town Hall is mainly renowned for its astronomical clock, which attracts thousands of tourists who want to admire the hourly parade of painted wooden statues, the Apostles, Christ, the allegories of death and of vanity, and the Archangel Michael. There are three circles on the dial showing different time. The outer circle, with Schwabacher numerals, shows the Old Czech time. The circle with Roman numbers shows the Central European time. And the inner circle, with Arabic numerals, shows Babylonian time. The blue part of the dial represents the sky above the horizon, the brown part the sky below it. The clock consists of three parts built in vertical succession. The Procession of the Apostles, the Astronomical Dial, and Joseph Mainzer's Calendar, created in 1866 in the form of a round disk with allegorical portrayals of the twelve months of the year. There's a zodiac ring which represents the stars in the sky, and it moves according to it. The two clock hands bear the signs of the sun and the moon. The pink-coloured Renaissance-style house features a richly decorated window with the city's coat of arms. It's the Council House. A magnificent late Gothic door in the house adjacent to the tower serves as the main entrance to the Old Town Hall. Prague's unique medieval heart can be seen in the atmospheric Gothic lanes, blackened stone facades, arches and churches, and freshly restored Baroque and Renaissance buildings. Today it's home to international companies and fashion designers, and is the centre of nightlife for the amount of bars, clubs and restaurants on every corner.