BRNO ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK

The Brno Astronomical Clock, located on the eastern side of Freedom Square, is a black stone sculpture in the shape of a projectile that contains clockwork. Every day at 11:00 it releases a glass marble. It was unveiled for the first time on 18 September 2010 on the occasion of the 365th anniversary of the Brno’s resistance to the Swedish siege during the Thirty Years’ War. This is the origin of the shape of the projectile, which is supposed to symbolise this important historical period. It was created by sculptors Oldřich Rujbr and Petr Kameník.

The sculpture consists of a block of “black granite” from South Africa, approximately 6 metres high. The time of the clock is synchronised according to a signal from Frankfurt. The time is displayed by rotating the highest stone parts. The entire top rotates on its axis in one minute and has a sharp prism on it which serves as the seconds indicator. The highest glass piece turns once an hour and serves as the minutes indicator. The dial turns once every 12 hours. Every full hour, the clockwork rings briefly.

Inside the clock, there is a system of complex mechanisms that set the glass marble in motion in the colours of Brno and other various graphic designs. At 10:15, 10:30, 10:45 and 11:00 a.m., the chimes play a melody and the marble can be seen passing through the holes and hitting the names of the conflict’s combatants. The marbles go up by a conveyor belt. Each time at 11:00 a.m., after the chimes are played, one marble rolls down the tracks into one of four holes where it can be caught and taken home as a souvenir. The marbles are handmade by the glassworks in Karlov.