New audio-visual programme on Orloj clock tower

Hundreds of tourists gathered around Prague’s famous astronomical clock on Saturday night for an audio-visual programme video-mapping the highlights of Czech history on the clock tower. The show, similar to that organized last year to mark the clock’s 600 birthday, will become a regular feature over the next seven weeks and can be seen on Saturdays between 8 and 10pm. 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.