Prague Legend #3: The Bell In The Tower Of Tyn Church

As this story goes, there was an old rich noblewoman with many servants - all of which were treated with exceeding cruelty.

One body servant in particular regularly received insults and blows for her pains. One night, the noblewoman was preparing for a social event and the servant was helping her put on her dress. At this moment, the bells of Tyn Church began to ring.

Hearing the bell, the servant stopped attending the noblewoman and knelt immediately to say a prayer as had always been her custom at home. The noblewoman became enraged and started shouting curses and beating the servant for what she took to be laziness. She beat the servant so severely, that the servant died.

Unsurprisingly, the noble woman was able to pay her way out of murder charges and thought she could go on living normally. However, every time she heard the Tyn Church bell ring, she was reminded of the murdered servant girl.

In the end, her conscience gave in and she donated all of her property to the poor, entered a convent, and had a small bell cast and hung in the tower of Tyn Church where it would ring in memory of the dead girl.

Prague Legend #2: The Twenty-Seven Beheaded Bohemian Lords

In 1618, the famous (second) defenestration of Prague is generally regarded as the main event that kicked off the cluster-you-know-what that was the Thirty Years War: an incredibly bloody and destructive series of conflicts. It was the earliest set of wars I learned about where they described the death toll in the millions. Actually, it's one of the most interesting events in European history and I've spent a lot of time over the years reading about it.

Anyhow, back to throwing people out of windows. This event kicked off the Thirty Years War - and more locally, the Bohemian Rebellion of the Estates against Emperor Ferdinand II of Austria (not Australia, auto-correct!) In the two years that followed the defenestration, there were a series of conflicts between the Bohemians and Austrians that the Bohemians eventually lost decisively at the Battle of White Mountain (Bila Hora is on my list of things to see).

After this battle, Bohemia was greatly reduced politically from a kingdom to a client state of Austria. In 1621, the Bohemian lords responsible for the political, financial, and military backing of the Rebellion of the Estates were rounded up and beheaded in Prague at the Old Town Center. It was a long and bloody affair that lasted from five in the morning until one in the afternoon on June 21st, 1621.

These Bohemian lords are regarded as heroes and martyrs, having fought for freedom of religion, the rights of Bohemians, and maintaining the rule of the kingdom within Bohemia.

The plaza commemorates them with 27 crosses on the ground and a message.

According to the legend, the ghosts of the twenty-seven lords return to this place each year on June 21st and gather at the Astronomical clock. If the clock is working, it signifies the land is prospering. If the clock is not working, they return to their eternal resting places sad and dejected.

Prague Legend #1: The Old Town Astronomical Clock

As this legend of Prague goes, Master Hanus of Ruze altered and perfected the astronomical clock in Old Town Square 3 that was made around 1410.

It was so magnificent and beautiful, that it defied belief and was an instant source of pride to the people of Prague and its rulers.

The town council, intent on preserving the clock, the secrets of its construction, and the creation of another like it - or better, decided to blind Master Hanus.

In his sorrow and inability to improve the clock, or make others like it, Master Hanus asked to visit the clock in his blinded state to feel it's contours and enjoy it once more.

When he arrived at the clock, he reached inside and felt for a particular mechanism and tore it out - rendering the clock non-functional. At that moment his heart surrendered and he collapsed there, dead.

For many years, the clock was non-functional until a master craftsman was able to make the repair. Over the years the clock was silent, it was a reminder to the town councilors of their terrible deed.