77 Prague Legends [antikvár]

The Old Town Astronomical Clock The Old Town Hall, Old Town Square ^ The Old Town Astronomical Clock has been telling the time on the south side of the Town Hall Tower for almost six hundred years. The originally simple clock was constructed before 1410 by Mikulás of Kadan, but at the end of the fifteenth century it was altered and perfected by Master Hanus of Rüze, who turned it into a unique work unparalleled elsewhere in Europe. Naturally, the Old Town councillors were very proud of the clock, and consequently dismayed when rumours began to circulate that Master Hanus had received commissions from elsewhere, and was sitting in his parlour long into the night, calculating and drawing something. What else could it be but a clock even finer and more perfect, but destined for some other city? And what then would become of the glory of the Old Town clock? The councillors began to rack their brains to think of a way to make sure the Master would never make another clock for anyone. They thought long and hard, but nothing seemed safe enough, neither offering him money, nor seeking to extort a written bond or solemn promise. Then one of the councillors, a cruel and hard-hearted man, came up with an idea that at first appalled all the others. It was a dire plan, but one councillor after another gradually came round to the view that it was the only way to ensure that the Prague clock would remain unique forever.