Astronomical clock in Prague

The Prague Astronomical Clock (Pražský orloj) is set into the south wall of the Old Town Hall tower on Old Town Square. It was installed in 1410 by the clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and the astronomer Jan Šindel, and it is the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working.

The upper dial is an astrolabe that shows the time in several ways, the positions of the sun and moon in the sky, the phases of the moon and the signs of the zodiac. Below it, the calendar dial with paintings of the months is a copy of the original by Josef Mánes from 1866, which is kept in the City of Prague Museum.

Every hour from 8:00 to 23:00 the clock comes to life: Death, a skeleton, rings its bell and turns an hourglass, the figures of Vanity, the Miser and the Turk shake their heads, and the Twelve Apostles pass by two small windows above the dial. The show ends with the crow of a golden rooster and the bell striking the hour; it lasts less than a minute and always draws a large crowd.

Watching the clock from the square is free. A ticket to the Old Town Hall (2026: 350 CZK, reduced 230 CZK) includes the tower gallery, 42 metres up, with one of the best views over Old Town Square, and the Knight’s Hall; the chapel, the state rooms and the Romanesque-Gothic underground can be added for a surcharge. The tower is open daily from 9:00 to 20:00, and from 10:00 to 19:00 between January and March.

Although the clock has been repaired and rebuilt many times, most recently in 2018, several of its medieval parts survive, and it remains one of the best-known symbols of Prague.