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During the day, on the hour, bells ring, cocks crow and 15th-century statues dance while the necks of tourists below stiffen.

Marionette artist Vojtěch Sucharda sculpted the 12 wooden figures that turn out for the crowds on the astronomical clock – they replace the ones destroyed by German artillery in 1945. A brochure identifies which saint is which.

On the Old Town Hall’s ground floor is an exhibition space which features temporary shows.

Behind a brass plaque identified by the year “1945” is a pot of soil from the Dukla battlefield. German artillery gunned down 84,000 Red Army soldiers in this Slovak pass in one of the most grievous military miscalculations of World War II.

Twenty-seven crosses are set in the pavement on the town hall’s eastern side in memory of the Bohemian nobles who were executed for their role in the Thirty Years’ War (see Battle of White Mountain). After Protestant forces were defeated at the Battle of White Mountain, the men were hanged, beheaded or drawn and quartered here in a public ceremony.

The small chapel adjoining the Mayors’ Hall was consecrated in 1381 in honour of the saints Wenceslas, Vitus and Ludmila. Wenceslas IV’s emblem and his wife Eufemia’s initial adorn the entrance portal. In the nave is a scale model of the Marian column which stood on the Old Town Square until 1918 and may be rebuilt (see Marian Column).

The elevator taking visitors up to the viewing gallery of the tower won an award for best design in 1999. Oddly enough, its space-age design works harmoniously within the stony surroundings. It also permits wheelchair access to the top of the tower – a rare consideration in Prague.

The parapet under the Old Town Hall’s roof affords visitors a unique view of the square and the Old Town below. Bring your pocket change: Kč20 will buy you two minutes on a miniature telescope, with which you can admire the entire Prague Valley.

The cellars of the Old Town Hall were once ground floor rooms. The town was subject to flooding, so more earth was added to keep burghers’ feet dry. The spaces were used as granaries and debtors’ prisons.

Retreating German artillery unloaded their guns on the Old Town Hall’s north wing to avoid carrying the shells back to Berlin. After the war, the wing was torn down. Now the area is lined with stalls selling Czech handicrafts.