After climbing 172 steps and narrow spiral staircases, you are rewarded with a breathtaking view over Prague’s Old Town. The Klementinum, a huge baroque complex with a 68 metre high astronomical tower, is enthroned directly on the famous Charles Bridge.
The Klementinum offers more than just a magnificent view. It was already the centre of scientific life in Prague in the Middle Ages. Over many decades, an impressive ensemble of churches, schools, a national library and an astronomical and meteorological observatory was built here. Research was carried out particularly in the fields of astronomy and meteorology. The town attracted scholars and scientists at the time. Emperor Rudolf II also promoted the sciences and employed Johannes Kepler, for example, as imperial mathematician and court astronomer.
Today, the old rooms of the astronomical and weather observatory with their measuring instruments can be visited in the astronomical tower of the Klementinum. On the second floor is the Meridian Room, where the time of noon used to be determined with the help of the sun and a slit in the wall. Two old wall quadrants, bulky instruments used by astronomers to calculate planetary positions, still hang on the walls.
In the lower part of the Clementinum is the famous baroque library hall with valuable illustrated volumes and old books on theology, mathematics and philosophy as well as huge globes. Frescoes decorate the ceiling and the hall is said to be one of the most beautiful in the world. You can take a look inside during the guided tour, but you are not allowed to actually enter it.
The Clementinum can be explored as part of a 50-minute tour. Admission costs 380 Czech crowns (approx. 15 euros) for adults. Discounts are available for children, students (under 26) and senior citizens (over 65). The Clementinum is not barrier-free.
Further information: https://prague.eu/en/objevujte/the-clementinum-astronomical-tower-and-baroque-library/
Photo: Library Klementinum. Credits: unsplash/ Cedric Letsch
