Old City Town Hall Pragues in PRAGUES / Czech Republic description:The history of the city of Pragues starts in 1338, when the city got city rights from king John of Luxembourg. To be able to take it's administrative role, a city hall was required - and it was put in the gothic house, owned by the rich salesman Wolflin of Kamen. In 1364, the first belfry was built.
On this place, a lot of history was written. We name the choice of the Bohemian King George of Podìbrady in 1458. After the 'Battle of the White Mountains' the insurrectionists were taken into prison here, and several of them got executed here on June 21th, 1621. When in 1784 the 4 districts of Pragues were joined, this became the central city hall and several modifications were done.
On Mai 7th, 1945, the building was seriously damaged by war actions (shootings by tanks as a reaction of a uprising against the German occupation).
One of the highlights of the building is the astronomic watch with amongst others the 12 apostles. other figures like Death (represented by the skeleton) are also shown. The eldest part of this 'Orloj' (Horloge), are the mechanic and atronomic watch from 1410, made by Mikuláš of Kadaň with Jan Šindel. By the end of the 15th century, the cylinder and the Gothic statues were added.
The clock broke down regularly, and every time it was repaired. But mainly the 2nd World War damage was hard to overcome.
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