Art, time after time

Karlovy Vary park sculpture

There is no excuse in either Germany or Czech Republic to be late because no matter where you look there’s a clock tower. These lovely towers are part of the art that abounds in Bohemia. Most of what I saw was architecture and sculpture. I only visited one museum, which was surprising since I am such a museum addict.

While clocks are on many buildings, towers, and street corners, they represent different periods in history. Some, such as the one advertising Mercedes Benz, is modern while

Clocks in Stuttgart, Strasbourg, and Prague

the sundial on the side of the church and the two astrological clocks are substantially older. The Strasbourg astronomical clock, in the Cathédrale Notre-Dame of Strasbourg, Alsace, France is the third clock located here, dating from 1843. The first clock was built in the 14th century and the second in the 16th century. The clock has a computus (perpetual calendar), an orrery (planetary dial), the current position of the sun and moon, including solar and lunar eclipses, and a rooster that crows three times at noon. At 12:30PM Christ and the Apostles march out of one door and into the other at the top of the clock. In Prague, the Orloj, installed in 1410, is the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working. This is particularly impressive since it is on the southern wall of Old Town City Hall in the Old Town Square. Again, there is a computes, an orrery, and the current position of the sun and moon. Each hour the figure of Death, a skeleton, strikes the time the Apostles parade past two open doors, but don’t venture outside.