Did you know that you can climb the New Town Hall tower on Karlovo náměstí? You can get a 360-degree view of the surrounding area. The tower is open Tuesday to Sunday from spring through fall. There are 221 steps leading to the viewing area. You can also visit the tiny quarters where the tower watchman used to live. His task was to watch for any fires in the city and sound a warning bell in case a fire was spotted. The rooms are not preserved in the original condition but house a permanent exhibition on the history of the New Town.

Here are some views from the tower:

While visiting the tower or even if you’re just passing by, stop by the eastern facade and look for a metal rod attached to the wall. This is the standard measurement for the Czech or rather Prague cubit. It is called loket in Czech, which means “elbow”. The loket was a measuring unit introduced by Czech king Přemysl Otakar II in 1268. It is 59.3 cm long and is supposed to represent the distance from the elbow to the fingertips. The metal rod was placed on the wall of the New Town Hall in 1760. Merchants used it as an exact measurement guide until the 19th century.