Prague’s Orloj clock at centre of row over artist’s ‘amateur’ restoration

Artist endowed 15th-century clock with likenesses of friends and acquaintances, possibly as a joke

One of Prague's most famous landmarks, a 15th-century astronomical clock, is at the centre of an embarrassing row amid claims that an artist endowed it with likenesses of his friends and acquaintances in an expensive restoration project, possibly as a joke.

The 600-year-old Orloj - long a magnet for tourists who gaze up in wonder as the 12 apostles are set in motion by the clock striking the hour - reopened in a blaze of fanfare in 2018 after a 2.1m refurbishment to the city's medieval old town hall that included an upgrade to the clock's intricate machinery.