Animated Figures
The four figures flanking the clock are set in motion at the hour, these represent four things that were despised at the time of the clock's making. From left to right in the photographs, the first is Vanity, represented by a figure admiring himself in a mirror. Next, the miser holding a bag of gold represents greed or usury. Across the clock stands Death, a skeleton that strikes the time upon the hour. Finally, the Turk tells pleasure and entertainment.
There is also a presentation of statues of the Apostles at the doorways above the clock, with all twelve presented every hour.
Read more about this topic: Prague Astronomical Clock
Famous quotes containing the words animated and/or figures:
“And what if all of animated nature
Be but organic Harps diversely framed,
That tremble into thought, as o’er them sweeps
Plastic and vast, one intellectual breeze,
At once the Soul of each, and God of all?”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)
“The figures of the past go cloaked.
They walk in mist and rain and snow
And go, go slowly, but they go.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)