The Time Machine on Letná, known to many simply as the Metronome, ticks away the time in the Letná Park along the left-bank Edvard Beneš Embankment, directly above the head of Čech Bridge.
This site once held the infamous monument to the dictator J. V. Stalin, mockingly called the "meat queue". In 1991 the "metronome" was installed here, created by sculptor and Academy of Arts professor Vratislav Karel Novák. Although it really does resemble Mälzel's famous metronome with a reverse pendulum, its mechanical construction is completely different.
The Time Machine is almost 25 metres high and weighs 7 tonnes. The pendulum could not be installed by crane due to concerns about the disturbed statics of the pedestal after the demolition of the Stalin monument. A giant helicopter therefore put it in place. It remains a mystery by what rules the metronome sometimes swings and sometimes doesn't. The space below the metronome is popular with skaters and skateboarders, who like to train here.
You can see the Metronome directly from the moorings of our boats and steamboats, and of course on our regular Vltava cruises.
