Part of the Prague astronomical clock was incorrectly repainted during repairs

Prague - A part of the Old Town Astronomical Clock in Prague was mistakenly repainted during last year's several-month renovation. The mistake concerns the part of the clock face showing astronomical events. This was reported by Czech Television on its website. Due to this error, the city hall had to repaint the clock face again a few days ago. Experts from the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Culture criticized the insufficient preparation for the clock's repairs, according to CT. It was the first complete disassembly of the clock since the post-war years. However, the city hall stated that the clock has been functioning properly throughout the entire time.

The clock was out of service for total renovations costing nearly ten million crowns from the beginning of January to the end of September last year. After it was restarted, Zdislav Šíma from the Astronomical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, who has been taking care of and adjusting the local astrolabe for almost 40 years, discovered that the astronomical plate had lost some of its functions due to the repainting of lines during the repair. "Those lines on the clock show the precise moments, they are the boundaries of certain events. It's like if someone blurred some lines on a sundial," Šíma told the television.

The city hall spokesperson Vít Hofman told ČTK today that the astrolabe and its painting were created entirely according to the requirements of professional public and heritage conservationists. However, after the clock was put into operation, it turned out that under certain lighting conditions, the section depicting the area of twilight and dawn was less distinguishable from the black circle of the dark night. Changes may also have been caused by drying colors.

"The astrolabe was not revealed in a wrong version, and there is no repainting. There is only a correction of color shades before the final closing of the coatings with protective UV varnish, which must be applied anyway," Hofman stated. The work is expected to be completed by the end of June, but it depends on the weather.

"It must be stated that this is exclusively an astronomical problem. The conservation inspection is continuously addressing this situation. They are in regular contact with the Prague City Hall," said Petra Hrušová from the Ministry of Culture's press department to ČTK today.

According to experts, the city did not prepare last year's repairs of the clock with sufficient care. "No one had a professional assessment prepared by any of the astronomers; everything is done ad hoc at the last minute, and that's why it keeps being redone. There is still no proper study here," Šíma stated. Aleš Bystrianský from the Ministry of Culture's conservation inspection expressed a similar view. "It would be right to do this, I would say, valuable and important thing correctly the first time. They should have monitored this already during the restoration," he told the television.

Hofman noted that for centuries the plate was exposed to weather conditions and at the end of the war also to high heat during a fire that completely destroyed its color. "The professional public is thus debating what colors the astrolabe was painted from the Middle Ages to the present day," he added.

One of the most significant changes that last year's repairs brought was the replacement of the clock's mechanism. The electric drive from 1948 was replaced with the original mechanism, with hemp ropes wound on wooden cable drums. Already the launch of the repaired clock on September 28 last year was accompanied by problems. When opening the doors behind which the apostles appear, the chain got stuck, so the remaining apostles had to be moved manually by the operator.

The clock is attached to the southern side of the Gothic tower of the Old Town Hall, which is a national cultural monument, and its construction was completed in 1364. For a long time, it was believed that the clock dates back to 1490. However, in the second half of the 20th century, due to the discovery of new documents, it was revealed that the earliest mention of the clock dates back to October 9, 1410.