A canvas display of how the clock used to look before it was destroyed in World War II and rebuilt in its present form

The first "undisputed" mention of the clock is from 1519[1] but according to tradition, it was built between 1419 and 1422. Local legend claims that the astronomer was blinded so that he could not build a similar work in another city. 

The clock has been rebuilt several times during its history and equipped with various moving figurines, including St. Wenceslas, St. George on his horse and the dragon, and Three kings on their camels. In 1800, the clock stopped for eleven years, then after temporary repairs stood still again until 1898. The oldest parts of the current clock are from that year, when the clock was equipped with a heliocentric dial by Eduard Korfhage.[1] In 1926 it was decorated by prominent artist Jano Kohlerem. The clock was damaged by a grenade in May 1945, in the final days of the Second World War, by soldiers from the retreating Nazi German army passing through Olomouc. Fragments from that version are now kept in the city museum. Shortly afterward it was returned to the form it was given in 1926, but was then completely rebuilt in 1955 by Karel Svolinský in the Socialist realism style. The commissioning ceremony took place on 9 May 1955 in the presence of Communist dignitaries. 

The clock was featured in the opening scenes of the 1969 Czech film The Joke based on the book by Milan Kundera.