Скачать или смотреть Prague Astronomical Clock | Oldest astronomical clock in the world still working

Prague Astronomical Clock | Oldest astronomical clock in the world still working

The Prague Astronomical Clock is a medieval astronomical clock attached to the Old Town Hall in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic. The clock was installed in 1410, it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and it’s the oldest clock in the world still working today, as well as being both beautiful and complicated. The clock shows the time, the date, astronomical cycles, and the position of celestial bodies, so it’s tricky to read without help. It’s also the center of several myths and legends set in the Czech capital, The Prague Astronomical Clock is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the Czech capital.

The four figures surrounding the clock are four allegories representing vanity (a man holding a mirror), greed (a businessman with a bag of money), death (a skeleton with an hourglass) and extravagance (a Turk prince playing the mandolin). When the clock strikes the hour they start to dance the vain man looks in the mirror, the greedy man moves his bag, the skeleton shakes the hourglass indicating the time and the extravagant man moves his head. Meanwhile, hundreds of tourists stand captivated on Old Town Square in Prague.

The dial is a form of astrolabe, in which you can easily see, inside the black circle, the signs of the zodiac, which were very important in fifteenth-century Prague, in addition to icons representing the sun and the moon. On the clock you can also see the aurora or dawn (on the left) and sunset (on the right), whilst the golden numbers in the blue circle represent the hours of the day.

The astronomical clock consists of different parts – such as a calendar and an astronomical desk or the mechanism of twelve apostles which sets them in motion.