The secular dominant of the Old Town Square is the slim, almost 70 meter high tower of the Town Hall (radnice), which is open to the public and from which there is a splendid view of Prague, its Old Town hip-tile roofs and the other Prague towers. It is part of the complex of town-hall buildings, which the Prague Town Councillors successively purchased. Permission for the erection of a town hall was granted by Jan of Luxemburg, on condition that they should finance the work from the duty on wine. Plenty of wine must have been drunk in those days in Prague, for in 1338, in the same year as they gained the Royal consent, the City Fathers installed town council chambers in the house which they purchased adjoining the present tower. Still in the 14th century several more houses were incorporated. The tower was erected about 1380, but not till about the beginning of the 15th century did it receive the adornment of the famous Orloj. The horologe was overhauled and reconstructed by the Utraquist Professor in the Charles University, Hanug of Rae. The Orloj was, for its time, a very complicated mechanism and not seldom broke down, whence arose the romantic legend according to which its maker intentionally put it out of gear when the Councillors had him blinded, so that no other town might pride itself on such a technical wonder. The Orloj on the Town Hall Tower is made up of two parts: the upper part shows the apparent movements of the Sun and Moon and the time of day; the calendar plaque below shows the days of the week and the months of the year. On this plaque are painted the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, and medallions of the months, with scenes from country life, by Josef Manes (1865). The present calendar plaque is a copy; the original Manes paintings are in the Prague Municipal Museum.
Above the Orloj, two windows open as the clock strikes the hour, at which statuettes of the Apostles and of Christ appear in succession; there is also a figure of Death the Reaper, who tolls the passing of time, and figures of a Turk, a miser and a crazy prodigal. The Orloj always attracts its crowd of spectators, even though it was constructed long before Columbus set out on his voyege of discovery to America. Its mechanism may be compared in some measure with the astronomical clock in Hampton Court Palace, which shows more or less the same things but records, in addition, the time of high water at London Bridge. It is, however, by far not so artistically designed and decorated, and is younger by more than a hundred years. The vestibule of the Town Hall is decorated with a mosaic, "Princess Libuše foretells the Glory of Prague" and "Homage to Slavdom", executed after a cartoon by Mikulag Aleg. The Old Town Hall played an important role especially In the Hussite Age, when it was the centre of revolutionary activity and actually put through its demand that the King of Bohemia should be elected within its walls. The election of George of Podebrady is depicted in one of the pair of immense pictures by Brožik hanging in the Session Chamber of the Town Hall. The other Brožik picture alludes to the beginning of the Hussite Movement; the scene it pictures Is the condemnation of John Huss by the Council Of Constance. In the course of the Prague Uprising at the end of the Mond World War the town hall suffered great damage. Nazi bombardment devastated the chamber where George of Podebrady was elected King of Bohemia, and the city archives, Comprising 70,000 volumes, as well as historically priceless manuscripts, were destroyed by tire, which also melted the boll, dating from 1313, the oldest in Bohemia.
Nevertheless what has survived still ranks among Prague's most valuable monuments. As by a miracle, the old Council Hall from the 15th century remained intact, with its timbered roof and the six gilded chains with which the Prague streets of the Old Town were at one time closed at nights. Hung on the walls are the 60 emblems of the old Prague Guilds and in the hall itself is a rare Gothic statue, carved in wood, from 1414, with the Latin inscription, as an injunction to the judges who sat here: "Judge justly, Sons of Man". Forming the entrance to the hall is a lovely Renaissance portal of red marble.
Post je objavljen 14.04.2012. u 13:01 sati.