New Town Hall Belfry / Vež Novomestské radnice (Prague)
N 50° 04.689 E 014° 25.278
33U E 458593 N 5547480
The Gothic tower of Prague' New Town Hall (Vež Novomestské radnice), nowadays serving as tourist's observation tower, was in historic times important part of city's warning and defensive system. The tower offers perfect 360° views over Czech capital.
Waymark Code: WMM1FW
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 07/02/2014
Views: 75
The Gothic tower of Prague' New Town Hall (Vež Novomestské radnice), nowadays serving as tourist's observation tower, was in historic times important part of city's warning and defensive system. The tower offers perfect 360° views over Czech capital.
The Prague New Town Hall is a complex of several medieval buildings. The eastern tract is the oldest, it is from 1377. The dominant of the New Town Hall, Gothic bell & observation tower built in 1456, is almost 70 m high and you can climb 221 steep steps leading to the observation gallery. At the beginning the tower was fulfilling several functions – representative and functional. The functional part lied in setting up two quite small flats for tower keepers on the level of the tower’s gallery. From the city security point of view the tower keepers were important people. They were constantly observing the area from the gallery for the enemy troops. This is why the tower had to be so high to be able to see over the city walls. Their no less important duty was to also observe, whether somewhere in the city fire did not arise. In case of emergency it was their responsibility to clang the bell placed in the tower to alarm the city.