Prague’s Astronomical clock celebrates 600th anniversary

Hundreds of people gathered on Prague’s Old Town Square on Saturday night to celebrate the Astronomical Clock’s 600th birthday. Prague City Hall prepared a special audio-visual programme video-mapping the clock’s history on the clock tower itself. (Part of the show can be viewed on you Tube.) The oldest part of the Orloj, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, dates back to 1410 when it was made by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Charles University. Later, presumably around 1490, a calendar dial was added and the clock facade was decorated with gothic sculptures.