Olomouc's unique town hall clock

Olomouc, out in the east of the country, is a kind of handy-sized Moravian equivalent of Prague. It has similarly gorgeous buildings and squares, with great places to explore, eat and drink. It's also calmer, more easy-going and friendlier than the capital. And it has a curious counterpart to Prague's famous Astronomical Clock.

Because Olomouc's public timepiece, on the town hall in the main square Horní náměstí, is an important relic of ancient times: not ornate golden-era baroque, but the full-on socialist realism of the 1955 Soviet era. The stirring mosaics show workers and scientists, not saints or kings, and were no doubt enthusiastically commissioned to show the dynamic modernism of the Communist sphere. As they hoped, anyway.

Of course, it didn't quite work out ideally. After the fall of Communism there were many who wanted the clock to be replaced too. But it seems now people rather like the thing as a period piece; you can enjoy it as an artwork even if you hate what it came to stand for.

It's only one of many things to enjoy in the city. There are magnificent baroque churches, fountains and columns, great coffee shops, stylish restaurants, and a 20th century fresco hall that's a kind of secular Sistine Chapel, again celebrating science rather than religion. But if you're looking to bag a clock after seeing Prague's ornate showpiece and Brno's bizarre black torpedo, this is the place to come.