Czech Village Clock Tower in Cedar Rapids preparing for its close-up

In late March, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids announced plans to renovate its flood- and derecho-damaged Clock Tower at the corner of Inspiration Place and 16th Avenue SW.

Instead of standing silent sentinel by the Cedar River, the clock would start ticking again by early fall. But that’s not all: The $1.6 million project would turn the tower into the only Prague-style astronomical clock, known as an orloj, in the United States.

The renovation, designed to complete the original vision when the 61-foot tower was erected in 1995, also would add 12 figurines on two carousels that awaken on the hour to rotate to the music of Czech composers Antonin Dvorak and Bedrich Smetana.

While the figurines in the Prague Orloj are the 12 apostles, the 12 figurines in Czech Village will tell an immigrant story, with a farmer, a bee keeper, a coal miner, a meatpacker and other sculptures representing those who came here from Czech, Slovak and Moravian lands. Making those connections and telling those stories are fundamental aspects of the museum’s mission, said Cecilia Rokusek, its president and chief executive officer.

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She noted the renovations are financed “entirely through contributions.” The down payment of $250,000 came from retired banker and philanthropist Ernie Buresh before he died in 2022. He also was a driving force behind building the Clock Tower in 1995.

“But (the organizers) didn’t have the resources to finish it,” Rokusek said. With Buresh’s gift paving the way to finish the work nearly three decades later, the tower will be renamed the Buresh Immigration Tower.

The renovation also is an integral part of the museum organization’s 50th anniversary, celebrating its beginning as the Czech Fine Arts Foundation in Cedar Rapids in 1974.

What’s happened since

Rokusek has been hearing from people curious about what’s going on at a structure they’ve never really noticed before. That’s been changing all spring and summer.

Work began in April, with a groundbreaking ceremony May 3 to launch the undertaking. Neumann Monson Inc., with offices in Iowa City and Des Moines, is the project architect, and Graham Construction of Cedar Rapids is the construction manager.

While passersby could see workers as they refaced the tower’s outer shell, the public couldn’t see what was happening inside to strengthen the infrastructure enough to support the astronomical clock’s astronomical weight.

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Rokusek expected the clock’s 4,100-pound inner workings to beat her back to Cedar Rapids when she spoke with The Gazette from Slovakia on Aug. 21. The astrological clock’s digital components were built in the Czech Republic by the SPEL Company in Prague, caretaker of the 15th century Prague Orloj, built in 1410.

The meter-high immigrant figurines, sculpted by Andrej Harsany of Bratislava, Slovakia, were on a ship bound for the United States, after receiving a rousing send-off attended by the governor and covered by the media.

“It was a big deal,” Rokusek said, adding that involving both countries was deliberate and important. “We truly wanted it to be a Czech and Slovak project.”

Workers from Prague will be arriving in Cedar Rapids this week to install the clock, which Rokusek said could take about three weeks. Harsany is due to arrive Sept. 15 to install the figurines.

These initial aspects should be ready for their public unveiling at noon Sept. 27. This also will be a big deal, with Czech President Petr Pavel and Slovak President Peter Pellegrini in attendance. Both will speak at the event, and several Czech, Slovak and U.S. dignitaries will join in the celebration.

“The Czechs are bringing 60 people on the presidential plane,” Rokusek noted. The public also can observe the 10 a.m. motorcade that will make its way to the museum.

Inviting the presidents hearkens back to the museum’s 1995 historic dedication by three then-presidents: Vaclav Havel of the Czech Republic, Michal Kovac of Slovakia and Bill Clinton from the United States.

“What’s unique about our tower, and why I think there’s so much interest by the presidents to come, is that it’s not only a replica of the one in Prague, but it’ll be one of only eight like that in the world, and the only one in North America,” Rokusek said.

“It’ll be a real important part of the Cedar Rapids community, and draw tourists. We have Czech Village, we have NewBo, we have the museum and others within the city, but I think the Clock Tower will make it a real destination place. When we were at Prague last week, the figurines stop at midnight, but we were out there at 11 o’clock, and it was packed with people just waiting to watch those figurines.”

Never fear. If you live within earshot of the Cedar Rapids tower, it won’t be singing around the clock. Rokusek said the figurines most likely will start at 9 a.m. and appear on the hour until 9 or 10 p.m. Smetana’s music will call people to gather about three minutes beforehand, and Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” will play as the figurines appear to tell their New World story, along with a narration.

Financial milestones

Getting the Clock Tower up and running isn’t the end of the story. Longer narration will be added in phase two or three, for which fundraising is ongoing.

“The first phase is $1.15 million, and we’ve raised that,” Rokusek said. “The whole project, because there are three (other) sides to it, is $2.1 million. We have not reached that, so we will be definitely be working to try to raise money.”

The orlojs in Europe and South Korea typically are mounted on the side of a building, but the Cedar Rapids tower is a free-standing, four-sided structure, which Rokusek said adds to the “complexity, beauty and intrigue” of the tower, as well as the price tag.

Regular clocks will be mounted on all four sides. In addition, the musical Prague-style orloj (astrological clock) and figurine carousels will face the museum; the sides facing the Bridge of Lions and Czech Village will have an angel carved out of stone, with reliefs focusing on immigration to Iowa. A Moravian artist is creating two temporary art panels — one representing Czech culture, and the other Slovak culture. As future funds are raised, bronze sculptures depicting immigration will replace the art panels. In phase three, a sundial will be added to the fourth side, facing the street.

A grant also is in the works to turn the area around the tower into a parklike setting that could be used for weddings, receptions or just family walks, Rokusek said.

Phase two will begin this month, and “we hope that by 2026 everything will be done,” she said.

A source of pride

Budgets always are frustrating with large projects, as they tend to become moving targets.

“Whenever you envision projects like this, you always have to have a little wiggle room to do it well,” Rokusek said. “We clearly want it. We’ve stuck to our budgets, but I think knowing that it is a major project, people have been very good and very generous, and we’re very grateful to that.

“But we’re not there yet, but I’m confident that we will get there. And for me personally, it’s a big piece of pride in that knowing that for future generations, we’ll be able to have that tower that will really represent our mission at the museum, and represent Iowa immigration, and represent really, all cultures,” she said.

“Whether you’re Norwegian or whether you’re Danish or whether you’re German, you can probably relate to your somebody coming over as a farmer, or somebody coming over to work in the factory, so that people, I hope, will then translate that to their families to say, ‘You know, we’re not Czech or Slovak, but our German grandparents or great-grandparents came over and they worked as farmers.’

“And so that can be a point of not only pride, but education for future generations.”

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com