Inside Prague’s bell tower, where communist secret police spied on Western diplomats
The St Nicholas bell tower in Prague’s Malá Strana once warned the city of fires. During the communist era, it served a very different purpose: the secret police used it to spy on Western diplomats. A new exhibition now invites visitors to discover the tower’s past.
The St Nicholas Municipal Bell Tower stands next to the Church of St Nicholas, just off Malostranské Square. Designed by the renowned Baroque architect Kilian Ignaz Dientzenhofer, it is one of the Malá Strana’s most recognisable landmarks.
A new permanent exhibition, called Guardian of Safety, opened in the tower earlier this month. It takes visitors into the historic apartments of its former keepers and a partially preserved surveillance room used by the communist-era secret police.
The exhibition begins at the level of the tower’s distinctive clock faces, visible across the Malá Strana. Just a few steps above is the former surveillance room, where the State Security, or StB, monitored Western diplomats. Writer and curator of the exhibition Vratislav Maňák explains:
“The StB had a huge number of observation posts for monitoring Western diplomats across the Malá Strana, so it was difficult to find enough personnel to staff them. The secret police therefore also recruited retired officers, and the practice was derisively nicknamed the ‘old men’s machine’.”
The room has been partially preserved in its original state, with newspaper clippings about football and ice hockey matches still displayed on the walls.
But the exhibition also recalls the tower’s original purpose. Until 1891, a watchman stationed there kept an eye on the city and raised the alarm in the event of a fire.
Visitors can explore 19th-century apartments furnished in period style, once occupied by the tower’s keepers and bell-ringers, says Maňák:
“The original interior has been preserved here. Visitors can see the original apartments of the tower keeper, that is, the night watchman or bell-ringer who rang the bells and wound the clock, among other duties. The tower’s primary purpose was to warn the city of dangers such as fires.”
Prague City Tourism has gradually renovated the tower at a cost of almost three million crowns. The work included repairs to the staircase and entrance area, as well as the construction of a new ticket office and visitor facilities.
The area housing the 16th-century St Nicholas bell now features a display dedicated to the Bells of Memory project, which commemorates people who stood up against totalitarian regimes. An interactive section lets visitors hear the sound of the bell and learn about some of the people honoured by the project.
Klára Janderová, a spokesperson for Prague City Tourism, explains how the project works:
“On selected days each month, we ring the bell in memory of important historical figures who fought against totalitarian regimes. We usually honour three or four people each month.”
The St Nicholas bell tower attracts around 50,000 Czech and foreign visitors every year. Its viewing gallery stands 65 metres above the ground, and reaching it requires climbing 215 steps.
