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The Astronomical Clock (Prask Orloj) in Prague is one of the highlights of Old Town Square and one of
the top sights in the entire city. Most tourist think its cool, take and photo and move on, but the clock is
even cooler if you know how to read it. The clock itself is made of 3 parts the Astronomical Dial (shown
below), the Walk of the Apostles Figurines, and the Zodiac Dial on the bottom. There is a lot going on
with the clock which can be overwhelming, but we will try our best to make it easy.
it was discovered we are in a solar system going around the our sun. Remember from stop 3 that it was
right here in Old Town Prague where another Astronomical break through happened in 1619 when
Kepler came up with his Laws of Planetary Motion.
Calendar Dial added in 1870. The center has the crest of Old Town Prague surrounded by the 12 Zodiac
symbols of pre-2012 lining up with the days they fall on laying on the outer ring which has marks for
each day of the year. The Dial rotates keeping the current day on the top.
The Walk of the Apostles, animated statues added in the 1600s, Apostle Statues added in 1865, statues
come alive hourly; the skeleton statue representing Death is our favourite as it appears to be striking
along with the hourly bells.
From left to right in the photograph at the top of the first page of this article, the first is Vanity,
represented by a figure admiring himself in a mirror. Next, the miser holding a bag of gold represents
greed or usury. Across the clock stands Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour. Finally, the
Turk tells pleasure and entertainment.