Mikuláš of Kadaň

Mikuláš z Kadaně also Nicholas of Kaaden (* 1350 in Kadan, † 1420 in Prague) was a Czech clockmaker and mechanic.

Life and work

The first mention was Mikuláš z Kadaně at the Imperial watchmaker Martin from Prague, who gave a guarantee in 1376, for " someone " who came from Kadan to Prague. Already in 1408 Mikuláš z Kadaně is mentioned as a royal clockmaker of Wenceslas IV. He had at that time, not astronomical, clock back to 1402 at the Prague City Hall in custody.

He is considered the architect of the new mechanical movement the Astronomical Clock and the Astronomical dial according to the plans of Jan Šindel. At this time he must have been already about 60 years old.

According to a document dated 9 October 1410 when he was rewarded for his work. The Prague Mayor and City Council praised Master Mikuláš z Kadaně for the excellent work. In Scripture, the result of the work is very well documented. The clock is described as astronomical clock with an astrolabe. As a reward he was given a house on Haveltor ( Havelská brána ), the state of today's Wenceslas Square on the lower part. He also received a one-time amount of 3000 Prague groschen and an additional annual salary of 600 Prague groschen. At the time, this was an extremely high reward. As an example: 3000 Prague groschen had a value of 95 cows or 17,500 liters of beer.

His exact survival data are unknown; it is believed that he was born around 1350 and around 1420, most likely in Prague, died.