The Prague clock, an unmissable visit in the Czech capital
The famous bolero Clock, do not mark the hours is not a song for prague . Not because the gender do not succeed here or because the fear of the passage of time is lived differently with the central european cold , but because the fact that the clocks go on strike it doesn't make them any, but no grace, in the Czech capital.
And much less if the one that does it is the ** medieval astronomical clock ** of the old town hall, national pride, national emblem... and also city charm.
legend says that The Carpenter that he created it in 1410 did such a fine job that those who commissioned it wanted to make sure that he did not repeat it so that it would be unique in the world, and they left him blind.
He, in revenge, got into inside the clock and stopped his mechanism, at the same time that, magically, your heart stopped beating. Since then, it is believed that the movement of his needles and the dance of his figures ensure the good march of the city, and that the clock stops ticking brings bad luck to Prague.
The symbol of the Czech Republic is working again. Finally.
To calm the spirits of both during those months that he was hidden with a tarpaulin, every hour, punctually, the complex spectacle was projected that continues to amaze hundreds of people with its advanced mechanisms.
Direct cause or coincidence, the truth is that the only time he had done it, in 2002, the Vltava River it overflowed and the city suffered the greatest floods in its history. Hence, when in January the clock decided to cover the clock for its repair, some panic among its more superstitious neighbors (and disappointment among visitors) .
The fate of the city depends on this clock
The clock has a round calendar with medallions representing the months of the year; two spheres -the big one, in the middle-; an astronomical quadrant that was used for measure the time in the Middle Ages (and which marks the time in Central Europe and in Babylon , as well as the position of the stars) and whose colors each have a meaning : red is dawn and dusk; the black, the night; and blue, the day.
On each side, the clock is accompanied two groups of statues. Three of them symbolize the capitals sins -greed (represented by a Jewish merchant); lust (a Turkish prince) and vanity (a mirror) -.
On the other side, a skeleton is shown, which represents death. When every hour (from 9:00 to 23:00) the small theater opens, the skeleton rings the bell, warning the others that the same awaits us all and nodding, while the rest of the figures They shake their heads in denial. The little windows upstairs open and the "dance of the apostles" to end with the crowing of the rooster, which announces the new hour.
A fascinating mechanism
After eight months of restorations, coinciding with the Feast of Saint Wenceslas , the patron saint of the Czech Republic -which is celebrated on September 28-, the curtains of the theater were drawn again, without no misfortune It would have happened in Prague.
Again citizens and visitors return to look at the clock working at full capacity. And breathe a sigh of relief. Maybe this time the curse is broken and the centenary clock has won a truce.