Telling the time in Praha

Fast forward to 2117 when space and time travel is another past time. You treat yourself to a spontaneous trip leaving the destination to fate. In a few seconds you find yourself, in the middle of what looks like a small and very unfamiliar city. The only thing you are sure of is that its 1918 because everyone is talking about Germans losing the big war. Otherwise, you are completely clueless. The sun is out so it has to be summer and that’s as much about the time that you can deduce.

Luckily you have landed on a public square surrounded by an old church, a town hall, food stalls and lucky for you, a gigantic clock. Unlike the wall clocks you are used to, this one is an astronomical clock: a fancy clock with special mechanisms and dials to display extra astronomical information like the relative positions of the sun, moon, zodiacal constellations major planets. Everyone else on the square is attentively looking at it, as if waiting for the second coming, you on the other hand are struggling to even tell the time. This sounds like an excuse to speak to someone so you spot a kind looking lady and start the conversation with the one question that is never awkward to ask. “Excuse me, do you know what time it is?”. She looks at you, perplexed on the absurdity of asking the for time when the clock is right in front of you. Being the kind person that you thought she was, she reserves her comments and lets the conversation flow.

Lady(L): ”Yes , Its 11:50 am madam, Are you new here?”, she responds in an inviting tone

You(Y): “Speaking English, can’t read the clock, I sure am new here. Just arrived actually and I’m already fascinated by the clock. There is a lot going on with it, can you please tell me how you read it?”

L: “It’s pretty easy actually ignore the status, you tell the time from the first dial, the astronomical dial and the day from the second dial, the calendar dial.”

Y: “Not sure if I’ll find it easy but continue, I’m listening.”

L: “First notice the stationary background of the Astronomical Dial. At the centre is a map of the Earth pinning Praha at the centre. Those colored rings surrounding the earth represent the current sun light; the bottom dark circle is night time (7), the orange to the left is day break (5), the grey to the left is sunrise (4), the blue on the top is daytime (2), the grey on the right is sunset and the orange on the right is twilight approaching night time. These rings move throughout the year as seasons change.

.

You can also see the Moon (11) along the Zodiac Ring (13). It has a black and white half to show the current cycle of the Moon. It spins around the clock as it does around the earth.”

Y: “What about that Golden star (6) on that arm?”

L: “Good question, the small Golden Star shows the position of the Northern spring equinox. If you read the Roman numeral it points to on the outer ring you get the Sidereal time. You know about sidereal time, right?”

N: I’ve heard of it, but I’m not conversant.

L: “It’s basically another time keeping system that can precisely locate celestial objects

The Zodiac Ring also moves so that as sun goes counterclockwise around it, it marks the current position in the Zodiac year.”

Y: “You make it sound very easy, by the way, how do you read the current time?”

L: “Ha! I should have started with that. On the edges the of the Astronomical Dial the ring of Roman Numerals shows the Modern 24 Hour Clock (1), set to Central European Time.  Follow the Golden Hand (9) to see the current time on the standard 24-hour clock.

You can also read Ancient Bohemian Time from the ring with Shwabacher numerals (8). Ancient Bohemian time was set on unequal hours. It differs from modern hours in that the day started at sunset and that even though the day was made of 12 hours, the length of each hour changed with the length of day. The Shwabacher numerals on the clock also rotate to keep the end of day in line with sunset which normally between between 4-8pm.

Read the position of the Golden Sun in relation to the Golden Arch Lines on the background and you get the Ancient Bohemian time. You will also notice that the Arch Lines at the top are numbered from Sunrise on the left to Sunset on the right.”

Y: “So it’s basically moving rings and arrows synchronized to celestial body movements.”

L: “You can say that.”

Y: “Cool, what about the second dial?”

L: “The calendar dial is less complicated. On the outer ring are days of the year, with the current day on top. The inner ring has the 12 Zodiac symbols that were used before 2012. These symbols line up with the days on the outer ring. Finally, at the center is the Court of arms of Old Town Prague.

Luckily you are just in time for the best part. Watch...”

You then realize what everyone was waiting for. The skeleton starts ringing the bell, the surrounding wooden statues, respond showing reluctance. The windows open and one by one, 12 holy looking figurines pass from the first window to the second window. You figure they must be the 12 apostles. When the apostles finish their journey, the golden cockerel at the top crows and quivers its wings, the bell rings and the clock strikes the hour, 12:00 noon. Once the show is finished, everyone claps and disperses to their less dramatic lives.

Y: “That was pretty cool. Thank you so much for your time and patience. It is very kind of you.”

L: “You are welcome. By the way, where are you from?”

Y: “Geographically from Mars, chronologically from 2117 (pause initiated by her perplexed look again). It’s a long story”

L: “Well, strange foreigner, welcome to Praha, I hope you enjoy your stay here.”

Y: Thanks, I already have.

With such a mind-boggling introduction, you realize fate was on your side when you were routed to Prague or rather Praha as the Czech’s call it.

Back to 2017 …

I would like to believe time travel will be a reality in the future but in the meantime, the hypothetical story above sums up my encounter with the astronomical clock of Praha, otherwise called the Orloj. It is the third oldest astronomical clock and the oldest one still operating.  This grand masterpiece has been put together piece by piece, over centuries. The astronomical dial was installed in 1410 by the clockmaker Mikulas of Sadan. The calendar dial was added in 1490 followed by the wooden statues surrounding the astronomical dial in the 17th century: Historians are still debating whether it was 1629 or 1659).

Vanity and Miser

Skeleton and Turk

 These statues represent the elements that were believed to be problem areas of the city in the medieval times These elements are Death represented by a skeleton, Vanity represented by a man admiring himself in the mirror, the Miser represented by the man with a bag of gold and Lust represented by the Ottoman Turk, since Ottoman empire was a real threat at the time. Every hour, the skeleton rings the bell to remind city of death, the end of vanity, miser and lust. That explains why these 3 statues respond by shaking their heads in reluctance. To make it even more dramatic, the apostles were added in 1787-1791. In 1805, statues of the people of a chronicler, an angel, an astronomer and a philosopher were added around the calendar dial. Unlike their upper counterparts they are immobile and they represent virtues, not fears.

Chronicler and angel

Astronomer and philisopher

The last addition to the collection was the golden cockerel that was added in a repair done in 865-1866. 

golden cockerel

Such a spooky masterpiece is not without legends. It was previously believed that the master clockmaker Hanuš was its first constructor, the city council blinded him so that he wouldn’t repeat his creation. In anger, he disabled it, leaving it dysfunctional for the next 100 years. We know it was a historical mistake but had it been true, the city would suffer even more consequences. According to another legend, the city is doomed if it neglects the clock long enough to jeopardize its operation. The skeleton of death nods its head to confirm this. The only way out of the doom is a boy born on New Year’s night. The boy is supposed to perform the impossible feat of running out of the Tyn Church, across the whole square to the city hall and he has to arrive before the strike of the last hour, mind you this must soon after birth. If the legend is true, then it explains why the Czechs are fighting to keep the clock running. It has been repaired countless times and the statues are well protected in cages and constantly restored. In another legend, whoever tries to destroy the machine will be cursed to death or insanity.

There are alternative legends where the skeleton is a sign of hope. Above the clock are two windows where the 12 apostles pass. Before the apostles were added the windows used to lead to the jail for noble men. One day a knight who was imprisoned there was waiting for his execution. He looked out the window to see a sparrow imprisoned in the skeleton as it flew by and the skeleton closed its jaws. The sparrow waited for an hour before the skeleton opened its jaws again. The knight took this as a sign of hope which eventually led to his release.

The clock clearly means a lot to the Czechs. In addition to the attention it receives, what makes the clock even more interesting are the people who chose to ignore it. A notable example is a smart German man who came to live in Prague in 1600-1612, after an invitation from the famous Tycho Brahe. While everyone stopped to watch the hourly show, Kepler looked up to the stars. This is because the clock is based on the assumption that the sun revolves around the earth but Kepler, having studied, Copernicus’s theory knew better. As a result, he came up with the Kepler’s laws of Planetary Motion in 1619, building the foundation for lsaac Newton, Albert Einstein among other notable physicists.

That pretty much sums up my encounter with the Orloj. Congratulations if you have read to this far, this article is not only long but covers Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy, History, Geography, Politics and Engineering just from one machine. Underneath the glamour and entertainment is a clock that doesn’t tell the time but the age of time itself.

Once you get used to it, you start seeing its flaws like the irrelevance of the statues, ancient time and egocentrism. It might be a wise to be skeptical like Kepler, but while you are still fascinated, watch it as it strikes the hour, re-watch it and if you are in Praha for a while, make it a routine to watch it. Perhaps you’ll appreciate the universe, or make friends of fellow observers, or simply get a break, either you’ll be winning.

Of course when you leave Praha, get the most memorable souvenir.

Till next time!