Let's travel together #310 - Prague's Astronomical Clock (Pražský Orloj)

prague astronomical clock.png

After almost one year since this trip to Prague took place, I still have stories to share. Crazy, huh? To me, it's the proof I needed that all the efforts and chaos created back then during our endless rush and many kilometres walked in town with the purpose of exploring this beautiful city as much as possible, was well worth it.

And as every tourist that ends up visiting Prague, it was almost impossible not to have a quick stop at the famous Astronomical Clock which is locally known as Pražský Orloj, that more or less became the landmark of the city.

Funny or not, this event occurred quite late in our trip as we always focus on less known attractions and spend time on the famous ones just if we have time left, so with one or two days before having our flight back home, we finally met the Astronomical Clock, very curious to find out what makes it so popular.

Sadly, we arrived just a few minutes before having an exact hour, which is when the magic happens, and that led to plenty of people gathering in front of the tower, saving us a far spot from the one we wanted to occupy for taking the pictures.

But the magic I mentioned before doesn't consist just of a sound that you can hear pretty much from any spot in the crowd, but also of some activity among the figures, I'll show more in detail soon. And that's why I wanted a better spot for the pictures.

Anyway, the building is fascinating no matter the angle you shot it from, and there are lots of details to observe even if you have a bunch of people in front of you, so the single thing left for us was to count down the time left before assisting a unique moment that perhaps we won't get to see again twice.

The medieval clock is attached to the Old Town Hall and it was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest clock still in operation.

This comes with three main components: the astronomical dial that represents the position of the Sun and the Moon in the sky along with other astronomical details, the statues of various Catholic saints that stand on sides and also have an hourly show where they move along with a skeleton figure representing Death, and a calendar dial medallions representing the months of a year.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

The magic I mentioned before is represented by the hourly show made by the moving saints and the skeleton that does work like on the first day of being in function, everything being accompanied by a deep and serene sound created by ringing the bell. This only occurs between 9 AM and 11 PM, so if you are more of a night owl who enjoys exploring the city when it's dark outside, keep in mind that the magic won't happen.

There is also a local legend that catches even more attention from the tourists stating that the city will suffer if the clock is not well maintained with the passage of time and stays in good operation, being placed in jeopardy.

The ghost mounted on the clock was supposed to nod its head in confirmation, where the only hope can come from a boy who is born on New Year's night, which obviously happens every year anyway.

Good or bad, this legend brought its contribution on having constant renovations done on Prague's Astronomical Clock which is considered these days as the best preserved medieval astronomical clock in the world.

Click on the images to see them in full resolution

While lots of tourists are gathering hourly with just a few minutes before the magic happens, the crowd is quickly dispersed after this event ends, which creates a sad image. Many of those people have no clue that you can actually enter the tower and explore its inside beauty too, which will be well rewarded with a trip to the top of it that offers an incredible view over the whole of Prague.

In our case, even if we knew about this experience, being in the very last days of our trip our budget was slowly running out which made us unable to enjoy this aspect as well. But if you want to do it, the schedule is attached below, along with the admission fee.

^Source

For a bit more fun, there's also an online adaption to the Astronomical Clock which you can enjoy virtually on here, but I still consider it far from the actual feeling of standing in front of a big part of history that only few places in the world can still enjoy in the 21st century.

The Astronomical Clock can be found in the old center of Prague, its complete address being Staroměstské nám. 1, 110 00 Josefov, Czechia.

In order to reach it you can use the Metro Train, the closest stations to the clock being Staromestska (line A), Namesti Republiky (line B), and Mustek (lines A & B), but also a Tram which stops at Staromestska (trams 2, 17, 18).

Other places I've seen during my stay in Prague:

more coming soon...

^{Gabriela Travels is the FOUNDER of "Festival Mania" who started this community from the passion of attending various festivals and with the purpose of encouraging more people to explore festivals all around the world and share their experiences. At the same time, Gabriela is an independent Graphic Design Freelancer since 2019 completing over 600+ orders in this time and collaborating with various businesses and people from all over the globe. Additionally, Gabriela has her own corner on the internet since 2017 where she writes various articles for her blog, the most popular being the travel ones (300+ articles written on this field), but also approaching other topics as well, like game reviews, movie and series reviews, photography posts, cooking recipes and more, boosting the total number of articles written to 700+ blog posts. Gabriela is also a gamer since she was 11 years old and gaming remains one of her biggest passions along with traveling, editing, cooking, and doing various sports activities.}

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