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It was meant to be the pride of Brno - the town’s own astronomical clock to rival Prague’s famous Orloj and attract tourists to the Moravian metropolis. Located on the city’s Freedom Square the shiny black six-metre-tall, phallus-shaped clock has attracted praise and insults in equal measure since its unveiling two years ago. As Brno City Hall hoped, it has become the talk of the town but in a slightly different way than expected.

It was meant to be the pride of Brno - the town’s own astronomical clock to rival Prague’s famous Orloj and attract tourists to the Moravian metropolis. Located on the city’s Freedom Square the shiny black six-metre-tall, phallus-shaped clock has attracted praise and insults in equal measure since its unveiling two years ago. As Brno City Hall hoped, it has become the talk of the town but in a slightly different way than expected.

This month in Mailbox: Radio Prague in Contact magazine, Prague' astronomical clock, monthly listeners' quiz. Listeners quoted: Jonathan Murphy, John Novotney, Hans Verner Lollike, Ian Morrison, Kajari Chattopadhyay, Kristina Fallin, Charles Konecny, Mary Lou Krenek, Colin Law.

The astronomical clock at Prague’s Old Town Square is whole again as of Wednesday, when the last statues were returned after two months of repairs. Restorers frequently remove the 15th century statues to inspect their condition as their south-facing orientation causes more weathering. The Vain Man, the Miser, Death and the Turk were restored in January. The statues returned on Wednesday were the Philosopher, the Angel, the Astronomer and the Chronicler. The repairs involved mainly cracks and fading of the gold and paint.

Hundreds of tourists gathered around Prague’s famous astronomical clock on Saturday night for an audio-visual programme video-mapping the highlights of Czech history on the clock tower. The show, similar to that organized last year to mark the clock’s 600 birthday, will become a regular feature over the next seven weeks and can be seen on Saturdays between 8 and 10pm. The oldest part of the Orloj, the mechanical clock and astronomical dial, dates back to 1410 when it was made by clockmaker Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, a professor of mathematics and astronomy at Charles University. Later, presumably around 1490, a calendar dial was added and the clock facade was decorated with gothic sculptures.

Some people dream of travelling around the world, others want to bring the world to their native village. In this week’s edition of Panorama we meet three Czechs who have all made their dreams come true.

Prague firefighters on Thursday removed a swarm of bees from Prague’s famous astronomical clock, the Orloj. The swarm had started nesting on the clock’s angel statue. Firefighters removed the insects with a special vacuuming device; bystanders and tourists took great interest in watching the procedure, which only lasted about ten minutes.

Prague’s famous astronomical clock on Old Town Square is back in operation after an enforced three-week break for repairs and maintenance. Workers have been redoing walls within the Old Town Hall tower to combat dampness which has an adverse affect on the clock mechanism and experts have been repairing a mechanical golden rooster on the outside of the building in order to renew the motion of the roosters wings. The clock can once again be viewed in all its glory.

Prague’s famous astronomical clock known as the Orloj, dating back to 1410 and gracing the tower of the Old Town Hall, is one of the city’s biggest attractions, drawing crowds on the hour every single day. The chimes and a famous procession of apostles (moving sculptures) in the clock’s windows, are a must for any visitor, and are no doubt the subject of countless youtube videos and family photos. But anyone visiting on the Old Town Square these days has been less than lucky and won’t see the famous clock in operation: on Monday it was turned off

The astronomical clock at Prague’s Old Town Square will be stopped on Monday for three weeks due to repairs to the tower. Workers will be redoing the plaster on the tower of the Old Town Hall, which has problems with dampness and affects the machine and dust from the work would otherwise damage the clock. The work is expected to be completed and the clock reset on April 24. One of the many legends around the astronomical clock says that catastrophe awaits if the machine is stopped. Fortunately, three previous repairs in the last 20 years have seen so such problem.