Prague Astronomical Clock: The Hourly Show, the Tower Ticket and the Best Spot to Stand
Every hour, a crowd gathers on the south side of Prague's Old Town Hall and stares up at a wall. A skeleton rings a bell. Two small windows open and the twelve apostles file past. A cockerel crows. The whole thing lasts under a minute, and half the crowd turns away saying "was that it?"
It was. And it's still worth seeing, because the clock behind the show is one of the most remarkable machines in Europe. The Orloj was made in 1410 by the clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň with Jan Šindel, an astronomer at Charles University, which makes it the oldest astronomical clock in the world still working.
The photo below catches it early in the day, before the crowds. The tower rises over a wet chequered pavement, the two great dials glint on the corner of the Town Hall, and just a few people walk by.
Reading the clock
The upper dial is an astrolabe. It shows the position of the sun and moon against the zodiac, the phase of the moon, and three kinds of time at once: old Bohemian time, counted from sunset; modern time on Roman numerals; and Babylonian unequal hours, which split daylight into twelve whatever the season.
The lower dial is a calendar, with paintings of the months and the zodiac signs. Around both stand the figures: Vanity with his mirror, the Miser with his purse, Death with his hourglass and a Turk shaking his head. Death rings the bell. The others refuse to go.
The clock stopped for most of 2018 for a full restoration and restarted on 28 September that year, with its mechanism cleaned and repaired and the figures and dial repainted.
Watching the show
The apostles appear on the hour through the day until 23:00. Arrive five minutes early and stand off to one side of the square, by the houses opposite, instead of right under the dial. You'll see the figures as well as the crowd, and the crowd is half the fun: a hundred phones go up at once.
Mind your pockets. The moment everyone looks up is the one pickpockets wait for.
Go up the tower
The Old Town Hall tower is the better ticket. A lift and a ramp take you to a gallery right around the top, with the Týn Church's twin spires in front of you and red roofs in every direction. As of 2026 adults pay 350 koruna, with reduced and family tickets, and tickets bought in the first hour after opening cost half price. Open 9:00 to 20:00 from April to December, 10:00 to 19:00 from January to March.
Go up at opening for the discount and the light, then come down to watch the next hourly show from the square.
More on the clock: Prague Iconic: Astronomical Clock, Old Town Square on Travel Marketing.