This is a slightly different view of the Prague astronomical clock from the one I posted over a year ago. Since then I've been lucky enough to see it for myself, on the Old Town Hall Tower.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Astronomical clock in Prague
This is a slightly different view of the Prague astronomical clock from the one I posted over a year ago. Since then I've been lucky enough to see it for myself, on the Old Town Hall Tower.
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clock,
Czech Republic
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Doesn't look very user friendly. Just seems complicated to me.
ReplyDeleteLooks amazing but it might take a while to figure out the time! The astronomical clock at Hampton Court is a little clearer, but perhaps doesn't display as much info.
ReplyDeleteThis is the happy intersection of science and art. What a stunning piece.
ReplyDelete@Odie, very complicated is right!
ReplyDelete@John, from what I could see when I was there, so many people are watching it that you'd be hard pushed to get any information from it at all. Inside the tower though, you can see the very small and ordinary time pieces that drive it.
@Christine, I think you've hit the nail on the head!
These clocks are fascinating - though I have never really understood why they are called "anatomical". Perhaps it is because of the fact that "bodies" come out while the clock is striking. This particular one is more than striking. Thank you for this.
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, I will probably never visit Western Australia, but if I ever DO find myself in Perth, I will not leave until I see this clock, you may be sure of that.
I do hope you will take my comment in the spirit it was intended, and not begin to avoid me like the prague.
ReplyDeleteIt is quite beautiful but, if I had to depend on it to get myself somewhere, I'm afraid I'd be frightfully late all the time!
ReplyDeleteMy mami told me a story about the clock before I went to Prague the first time in 2002. She told me the legend about the clockmaker being such advanced skills that it was like he was 400 years before his time. He was commissioned to work in Germany after completing this clock. The people of Prague were angry because they didn't want there to be another clock like theirs somewhere else in the world, so they blinded him. In the clockmaker's fury he broke the clock so it couldn't be fixed until 400 years later.
ReplyDeleteDuring my two trips there I visited the clock whenever I was in the vicinity.
I miss Prague so much and I can't wait to go back there again!!
I read an article in my local newspaper yesterday that the clock is shut down now, for three weeks, for maintenance/repairs. So interesting to read little blurbs that before I wouldn't even have read. So your blog has broadened me. But then, so do desserts. :)
ReplyDelete@Manda, that's a wonderful, if horrific, story! I can understand that you would miss Prague, it's so beautiful.
ReplyDelete@Max, thank you for your many contributions. :) I hadn't noticed that it's being repaired. I hope it hasn't caught the prague. (Don't groan, you said it first)