OLD TOWN HALL

A propos of time: the filigree Astronomical Clock has shown what is written in the stars – interrupted only by the odd technical hitch – non-stop since 1410. The face of the clock is flanked by figures representing the “four greatest threats to mankind”: Death brandishes the hourglass, Vanity flirts with her mirror image, a Turk personifies the threat of war and the Mister shakes his money bags. In September, 1338 King John of Luxembourg suggested to the town council the building of a Town Hall from the proceeds of the Wine Tax. A few weeks later, the house of the merchant Wolflin was purchased and subsequently enlarged in 1360.

At first, the neighbouring houses were skilfully added on, before the slender tower was constructed as a “symbol of worldly power”. Almost 70 m high, it was also the scene of a massacre which had serious consequences. On the spot where crosses are now set into the pavement in front of the eastern façade, the Catholic Habsburgs executed 27 Protestant rebels in 1621. It was not until three hundred years later, at the end of World War I, that the Czechs were able to again their independence.

PIS (Prague Tourist Information Service) in Town Hall