Jindřišská věž, Gothic bell tower in New Town, Prague, Czech Republic
Jindřišská Tower is a free-standing Gothic bell tower of sandstone, 65.7 m high, standing between Jindřišská Street and the southwest corner of Senovážné Square in Prague's New Town. It served the church of St Henry and St Cunigunde, has a slate-covered wooden roof and a neo-Gothic spire 32.6 m tall added by Josef Mocker.
Built in Gothic style from 1472 to 1476 as the bell tower of the church of St Henry and St Cunigunde, it belonged with its surrounding land to the Order of the Knights of the Red Star. Swedish artillery damaged it during the 1648 siege of Prague, Prussian guns again in 1757, and a gale destroyed its slender Gothic roof in 1801. Josef Mocker's neo-Gothic rebuilding of 1876–1879 gave it its present 65.7 m height.
The tower's clock, added in 1577, carries the coats of arms of the Old Town, the New Town and the lands of the Bohemian Crown on either side of its face. Since 2001 the tower has housed a restaurant, a gallery and a carillon of ten bells audible only inside the tower.
The tower stands between Jindřišská Street and the southwest corner of Senovážné Square, with a Prague integrated transport tram stop, Jindřišská, directly in front of it. An elevator and new floors were built into the interior in 2001, and a viewing platform was created on the 10th floor. The tower is leased to a private company that runs a restaurant, the lookout and a carillon there.
The oldest bell is Maria, cast in 1518 by the master bell-founder Bartoloměj and weighing 723 kg. The largest, Jindřich, weighs 3350 kg and was recast in 1804; the newest, Dominik, was recast by Bellmann in 1850 and weighs 1000 kg.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,131 contributors worldwide.