The House of Clock

It started quite innocently. A certain Mr. Svoboda went to a collector of historical clock to buy an old trunk dial as a decent decoration for his flat. However all the ticking beauty around captured his heart and soon he became a collector himself. Quarter a century has passed. Now the museum he founded can proudly claim to have the largest exposition of clock in Czech Republic.

To travel the world for the clock

The Karlstejn museum of clock claims eight hundred and fifty exhibited pieces. Miroslav Svoboda did not even have to travel the world to get some gauges measuring time. Still, some come from England, France, Switzerland, Germany and even from China, Japan and America. He did not travel through time either. Yet he obtained historical clock from the times of Austria-Hungary. Expressiveness along with the ability to recognize and appreciate a true jewel was enough to acquire those entire clocks.

Friends of the old clock

The collection grew bigger and bigger so in the end the owner did not know what to do with it. It could hardly fit in the house and he would not miss the money he could raise from selling the collection. The great parade gathered exhibits dating from sixteenth century up to the modern age. However there was no one to admire it, except for Mr. Svoboda. Alarm clock from renaissance, baroque, classicism or secession along with a peal and the most accurate regulators were literally asking for being exhibited. In the year 1994 we can talk about beginnings of the realization. A club of Friends of historical clock was founded. They bought a reconstructed villa in the settlements round Karlstejn. The public could first enter the House of Clock in April of 2003.

A walk among ticking machines

The exhibition of the House of Clock will take visitors on a trip in time and space. As already mentioned some exhibits are several hundred years old (the oldest comes from 1520) and some quite modern (the youngest tower machine is from 1950). According to the material, style of carving, decorations and types of clockwork you yourself may easily recognize the era these clock come from. On the other hand the motives will tell you, who the clock was meant for: a noble, clergy or a farmer. A part of the exposition are clock of all types and sizes: tambour clock, wall clock, floor clock, tower clock, alarm clock, glass peals and also small children watch which served as a decoration in rooms for dolls. You can see cuckoos springing from some clock and marionettes walking over the clock-face on others.