NATGEOTRAVEL.COM
BUEN
A^ VISTA^ I
MAGE
S/GET
TY^IMAGESTHE QUEST
PRAGUEit strikes. Gazing up at its cryptic overlay of rotating
disks, medieval numerals, and heavenly symbols, I
struggle to read the actual time. But that’s because its
function is more astrolabe than clock. The front-facing
hands trace the movements of the sun and moon across
the zodiac—useful for townspeople who wanted to
learn the correct day to receive medical treatment or
buy a new house.
I spend an afternoon at the Astronomical Tower
inside the Klementinum, an old, sprawling Jesuit uni-
versity in the center of the city. Filled with astronomy
tools from the 17th and 18th centuries, it is in many
ways the last intact monument to starry Prague.
Jumping onto the last tour of the day, I join a group
of 25 visitors and we ascend single file up a tightly
wound metal staircase. The tower’s first floor opens
into the National Library of the Czech Republic, with
its spiraling wood columns and collection of celestial
globes, a hall little changed since 1722. If Dumbledore
himself had looked up from perusing a giant tome of
spells, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
On the floor above, in the boxlike Meridian Hall—
an active meteorological station—we stand where
Kepler’s contemporaries once measured the positions
of planets with sextants the size of hockey goal posts.
Another 50-some nearly vertical steps, and we find
ourselves at the top of the tower. On four sides, all of
Prague, with its red pointed roofs and saint-bedecked
spires, is bathed in golden light.
It is an unforgettable panorama, and one I never
would have found had I not let my inner astronomy
nerd lead the way. Lesser known than Prague Castle
and St. Nicholas Church, this watchtower is a more
gratifying visit, as it affords unbroken views of all those
other sites, minus the long queues.
Walking back to my hotel, I spot a sign that reads
“Kepler Museum.” Excited, I follow a narrow alley
down past some buildings but come to a dead end.
The museum had since closed, and all that was left in
the empty courtyard was a metal sphere, engraved with
a Latin quote from Kepler: “Ubi materia ibi geometria.”
Where there’s matter, there’s form.
Esoteric Prague is still here, a quiet contrast to the
city’s “beer bike” tours. If you hunt for it, a sharper
image of choreographed skies and thrilling stellar
discoveries comes into view, harking back to a time
when humans were just waking up to the mysteries
of our solar system.ALEX SCHECHTER ( @earth2alexsound) lives in Los
Angeles, where he works as a freelance writer and
sound therapist.CATHÉDRALE NOTRE-
DAME DE STRASBOURG
In 1842 clockmaker
Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué
installed a four-tiered
marvel of celestial
gadgetry in the cathedral
in Strasbourg, France.
Visitors now show up at
12:30 p.m. daily to watch
the clock come to life.HERSCHEL MUSEUM OF
ASTRONOMY
Composer William
Herschel occupied this
18th-century terraced
house in Bath, England. On
display is a replica of the
seven-foot telescope that
Herschel used to discover
Uranus in 1781.PARMA BAPTISTERY
Considered one of the
finest examples of celes-
tially influenced archi-
tecture, this pink marble
structure in Parma, Italy,
allows sunbeams to fall on
certain statues, paintings,
and baptismal fonts on
religious holidays.Astronomical
Sites in Europe
Astronomy captured
the minds of countless
physicists, architects, and
even musicians in medieval
Europe. Its cultural impact
can still be felt. Here are
four places to explore.Emperor Charles IV took
numerology into account
during construction of
the iconic Charles Bridge.MUSEO GALILEO
This 20-room museum in
Florence, Italy, contains
one of the world’s richest
collections of scientific and
medical instruments from
the Renaissance, including
tools Galileo himself used.