Even Slovakia Has Its Own Orloj! Stará Bystrica Hides a Remarkable Curiosity

Did you know that even Slovakia has its very own orloj? I certainly didn’t! And if my husband hadn’t discovered it, I probably still wouldn’t know about it today. Yet it stands in a small Slovak village called Stará Bystrica in the Kysuce region. And I have to say that when we arrived, I was truly surprised.

The weather wasn’t on our side that day. The sky was overcast and it drizzled now and then, but even that didn’t put us off visiting. And we were right. This place is definitely worth a stop.

The Slovak Orloj in Stará Bystrica. A Place I Knew Nothing About

When we arrived at the square called Rínok sv. Michala Archanjela, we were immediately drawn to an unusual building with a dark wooden roof, a bell tower and a colourful astronomical dial.

At first glance, you might not even say you are looking at an orloj. It is completely different from the one we know from the Old Town Square in Prague. The whole building has a peculiar shape, a roof covered with wooden shingles and plenty of interesting details. You honestly don’t know where to look first. At the colourful dial, the statues in the niches, or up into the little tower?

Only later did I find out that it is not just an ordinary clock. The Slovak orloj is considered the largest wooden sculpture in Slovakia. Its overall form represents the seated Our Lady of Sorrows, the patron saint of Slovakia. When you look at the building from a greater distance and know what to look for, its shape starts to make sense. It is also interesting that the structure of the orloj is made up of 80 wooden arms, which made it possible to create its unusual shape with the shingle roofing.

The Slovak orloj on the square in Stará Bystrica

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How Did the Slovak Orloj Come About?

It may surprise you that the Slovak orloj is not a centuries-old historic monument. Its story is connected with the extensive renewal of the centre of Stará Bystrica, which began in 2003. During the redesign of the square, the question came up of what to do with the unsightly wall of the local cultural centre, which didn’t fit into the newly landscaped space very well. And that is when the idea of building an orloj here was gradually born.

The academic sculptors Viliam and Marcela Loviška took part in its artistic design. The architectural solution was by Ivan Jarina, who also worked on the overall renewal of the square. The Slovak orloj was officially put into operation on 18 July 2009. And when you realise how much work it must have taken to create the whole structure, the astronomical dial and the individual statues, you start to look at this unusual building a little differently.

When the Orloj Strikes the Hour, the Show Begins

We were lucky, because we saw the orloj in motion too. When the full hour came, the bells began to ring and wooden figures of saints, whose lives are connected with the territory of today’s Slovakia, gradually began to appear. There are seven of them. You will see Saints Cyril and Methodius, Saint Andrew-Svorad, Saint Benedict, Saint Gorazd, Saint Bystrík and Saint Adalbert. The figures take turns in the opening of the orloj and the whole show is accompanied by the sound of bells. Interestingly, there are two bells in the little tower. One strikes the time, while the other creates the sound accompaniment while the saints move.

And one more thing surprised me. The statues you see on the orloj today are not the original ones. The first wooden figures were made by the woodcarver Peter Kuník from Tvrdošín. In 2018, however, they were replaced by seven new statues by Viliam and Marcela Loviška. The original figures were then placed on the outdoor balcony corridor by the machine room of the orloj. The new statues also hold an interesting secret. When creating the faces, their authors used the faces of real living people, whose identity they did not disclose.

We also listened to a talk about the orloj that was given a little later, so we learned something about its history and curiosities too. A similar explanation is provided by the local tourist information centre during its opening hours. So it is not an automatic part of every show until the evening.

The whole show lasted about seven minutes and I liked it very much. So if you wait for the full hour, you can see how the orloj really works.

What Does the Slovak Orloj Show?

What interested me most about the orloj was, of course, its colourful astronomical dial. It is completely different from ordinary clocks, where we just check what time it is. It is called an astrolabe, and thanks to it the building in Stará Bystrica is described as the first and only true orloj in Slovakia.

An astronomical dial shows not only the time, but also other data related to the movement of celestial bodies. For example, it shows the position of the Sun and the Moon in the sky, the phases of the Moon or the position of the Sun in the signs of the zodiac. It also displays true solar time, which is based on the actual position of the Sun in the sky.

The coloured parts of the dial represent the different phases of the day. Black marks the night, red dawn and dusk, and light blue the daytime sky. The dial also shows the equator, the Tropic of Cancer, the Tropic of Capricorn and the local meridian.

The calendar part of the orloj is interesting too, with its 366 segments. So it also allows for 29 February in a leap year. The calendar plate moves by one segment every day, and important Slovak holidays and memorial days are marked on it with red stars.

You Will Also Find Important Figures from Slovak History on the Orloj

Besides the astronomical dial and the moving saints, the bronze sculptures in the niches are worth your attention too. There are six of them in total, and they represent important figures connected with Slovak history.

Among them you will find Prince Pribina, King Svatopluk, Anton Bernolák, Ľudovít Štúr, Milan Rastislav Štefánik and Andrej Hlinka. Each of these figures recalls a certain part of the history of Slovakia.

And if you look all the way up, you may also notice a wooden figure of a night watchman, called a vartáš. In the past, such watchmen looked after the safety of villages and warned, for example, of the danger of fire. In short, there is always something to discover in this building.

The astronomical dial, the clock and the bronze busts in the niches

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Inside the Orloj You Will Also Find a Gallery and an Information Centre

I was pleasantly surprised that you don’t have to settle for looking at the orloj from the outside only. Right beneath it there is a tourist information centre, a souvenir shop and also a gallery. And of course we went to take a look inside too. We walked through the rooms and also climbed to the upper part of the building, where there was an exhibition. A visit to the machine room is an interesting option too, where you can peek behind the scenes of the whole mechanism. This is where you can better understand how the individual figures move and what hides behind the show that visitors watch from the square. The machine room was opened to the public after renovations completed in 2018. And visiting it is free. You do need to keep in mind the opening hours of the tourist information centre.

If you enjoy this kind of technical curiosity, it is definitely worth asking about a tour.

And of Course We Didn’t Leave Without Slovak Korbáčiky

On our trips we like to taste something local too. And in Slovakia we simply can’t skip the cheese. I remember that a little further from the orloj there was a shop with cheese products. And since we love Slovak korbáčiky, of course we couldn’t resist and bought some. So from this trip we took home not only photos and another experience, but also something tasty.

Is the Slovak Orloj Worth a Visit?

For me, definitely yes. Even though the weather wasn’t very kind to us and it drizzled now and then, I’m glad we came here.

The orloj is truly unusual and in person it interested me much more than I expected. On top of that, it stands right on a nicely landscaped square where you can stop for a while, take it all in at your leisure and perhaps stop for a coffee too.

And if you have more time, you can combine your visit with other attractions in the Kysuce region. Well-known destinations include, for example, the Museum of the Kysuce Village in Vychylovka or the area around the Nová Bystrica reservoir.

So if you ever travel around northern Slovakia, I recommend noting down Stará Bystrica as one of your trip tips. 🙂