One of Old Town Prague’s many charms is its astronomical clock (“You have to see it!” my mom said), which is over 600 years old and still retains much of its original mechanisms. I have zero appreciation for the astronomical features of the clock, because despite spending the last thirty minutes in a black hole of the internet trying to understand how exactly it works and why, I got nothing for you, other than saying the clock can tell Babylonian time which apparently counts hours between sunrise and sunset (which varies according to the time of the year). Or something.
(The internet blackhole did lead me to find out Google Streetview has gone inside the clock where you can see all the gear mechanisms and the apostles lined up and ready to make their appearance, totally wild! Keep clicking around until you can see the wheels of the apostles up the ladder.)
About ten minutes until the hour, hundreds of people gather in the square at the base of the clock with their eyes (and cameras) trained upwards. All you can see is a beautiful– but otherwise ordinary– clock:
When the hour strikes, the choreography begins with a skeleton (Death) at the middle right of the clock pulling a string with a bell on it and nodding to the sinners to let them know their time is coming soon. Flanking death are the three sinners (representing vanity, greed, and lust), shaking their heads no: I don’t know why I got such a big kick out of all the statues nodding/shaking, but it was my favorite part. The bell continues to chime as two blue stained glass doors pop open, and then a parade of apostles stream past the windows, peak out to say hello, and continue on their way.
Sev insisted a trumpeter usually emerges from the tower to play as well, but perhaps he called in sick the weekend we were there or only plays in the summer.