PRAGUE IS EVERYBODY’S DARLING. Why? Because this beautiful capital of the Czech Republic has all the ingredients you dream of in a city of Olde Europe. It has a castle (where they change the guard hourly) … and a cathedral (Gothic and gleaming) … and a town hall (complete with an antique clock) … and quaint little streets … and a river running through the middle … and picturesque bridges … and, gosh, everything!
In Prague, the Town Square is where you just have to begin. It’s surrounded by buildings that are as old as history. Like the Old Town Hall. It has a Tower (of course), and on the Tower is an ancient Astronomical Clock. And this clock is so striking it will mesmerize you.
First, it has two huge dials. The lower one is a Calendar. Look carefully and you’ll see that this dial is divided into twelve months – each shown by a familiar sign of the zodiac. Now have a look at the upper dial. This one is a 24-hour clock. On the outer ring the hours are shown with Arabic symbols, which is why you’re confused. But inside is another ring using Roman numbers – which, of course, may also confuse you. They run 1-12 (or rather, I-XII) twice. The 24-hour day.
And then super-imposed on top of this upper dial is another, smaller one. Twelve divisions show the zodiac again. Then there’s the position of the sun and the moon … and also of each of the planets …
In fact, there’s so much information on this clock that it takes an hour to make sense of it. But all that’s forgotten when you hear the thing strike.
Did I say strike? I mean … perform. Each hour, on the hour, the two windows above the upper dial open. A procession of the 12 apostles passes before your eyes – six in each window. When they’ve all passed by, the windows close and a cock crows – which is the cue for Death. He’s one of the several statues that are part of the Tower. Before your very eyes, Death turns his hourglass. And then he rings … the Death Knell.
But let’s move on and see the other sights. And you don’t have to go far; in fact, just look about you. Eye-boggling architecture from centuries back. Construction on the church of Our Lady of Tyn began in 1365, and its towers (my personal favourite) dominate the town square. This is not to be confused with St Vitus’s Cathedral – a towering Gothic marvel where stone columns soar above you, and stained glass splashes the wall with chromatic sunlight.
There’s a rose window, with 26,740 separate pieces of glass! And wait till you see the modern window done by artist Alfons Mucha, with figures afloat in a world of colour.
To get to the Cathedral from the Old Town Square, you must cross the river, which you should do by way of the pedestrians-only Charles Bridge – a beautifully proportioned structure adorned with 30 statues of the saints. Guarded by powerful towers at each end, the bridge stretches over 500 metres across the Vltava River and offers terrific views of the city.
The Vltava (sometimes spelt Voltava to make it easier for us foreigners) is yet another of Prague’s much-loved features – so much so that the great Czech composer Bedfich Smetana wrote what he called a symphonic poem tracing the sound of the river from its beginning to its end.
Before you go to Prague, listen to Smetana’s musical poem as often as you can. It has the sounds of the Czech heart in it …
