Prague Astronomical Clock — Orloj Hour Striking
167.06 €
The Prague Orloj (Astronomical Clock) on the Old Town Hall tower at the moment of the hourly striking — the calendar dial, astronomical dial, and the procession of the Twelve Apostles above captured in a single frame with the Old Town Square below.
Description
The Prague Orloj is the world’s oldest operational astronomical clock — installed in 1410 and displaying sidereal time, local mean time, Babylonian time, and the position of the sun and moon in the zodiac simultaneously on its two-metre face. The hourly striking mechanism animates a procession of the Twelve Apostles visible through windows above the astronomical dial, the four allegorical figures (Vanity, Avarice, Death, and the Turk) flanking the clock face moving in the quarter-hour sequence. This image was made at the hour-striking moment from a position in the Old Town Square directly in front of the tower, a 70mm focal length compressing both the full height of the clock mechanism and the Apostle windows into the frame without including the tower’s full height. The square crowd below provides urban scale and the seasonal flower market adds colour context. Shot at 1/500 second to freeze the tourist crowd movement.
