The Jewish Town Hall in Josefov

Josefov

Josefov is a town quarter in Prague, Czech Republic, known as the Jewish quarter.Josefov may also refer to:* Fortress Josefov, a former fortress in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic...

, Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

, was constructed adjacent to the Old New Synagogue

Old New Synagogue

The Old New Synagogue situated in Josefov, Prague, is Europe's oldest active synagogue. It is also the oldest surviving medieval synagogue of twin nave design.Completed in 1270 in gothic style, it was one of Prague's first gothic buildings...

 on the corner of Maiselova and Červená Ulice in 1586 in Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 style under the sponsorship of Mayor Mordechai Maisel. It acquired its Rococo

Rococo

Rococo , also referred to as "Late Baroque", is an 18th-century style which developed as Baroque artists gave up their symmetry and became increasingly ornate, florid, and playful...

 facade in the 18th century. The building was the main meeting house of the local Jewish community but is currently closed to the public. It is perhaps best known for its two clocks, one on a tower with Roman numeral markings, the other, lower, with Hebrew

Hebrew alphabet

The Hebrew alphabet , known variously by scholars as the Jewish script, square script, block script, or more historically, the Assyrian script, is used in the writing of the Hebrew language, as well as other Jewish languages, most notably Yiddish, Ladino, and Judeo-Arabic. There have been two...

 numbers and hands that turn counterclockwise, just as Hebrew reads from right to left.

See also

• Prague Orloj
  Prague Orloj
  The Prague Astronomical Clock or Prague Orloj is a medieval astronomical clock located in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, at . The clock was first installed in 1410, making it the third-oldest astronomical clock in the world and the oldest one still working.-Description:The Orloj is...