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What are the balls on Prague’s spires called??

prague-balls-question

One of the things that fascinates me about Prague are the skewers atop the spires of its many iconic buildings, each of which pierces a shiny ball. It’s a great look.

I am sure there’s a reason for those things, other than the look itself.

I am also sure there is a word for the ball. The skewer too.

I know it’s not spire, because that labels any conical or tapered point on the roof of a building. Prague is said to be the city of a hundred, or a thousand, spires. Most of those have these balls too, and I’ve become obsessed, while I’m here, with finding out what the hell they’re called.

I’m sure more than a few people out there on the lazyweb know. So tell me.

Thank you.

Later: good answers in the comments below.

And later still (13 June 2026): Here is an authoritative source that surfaced after I wrote this post:

Towers with Golden Orbs. Motif of CupolaedSpires with Spherical Supports, by Zygmunt ŁUNIEWICZ, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Architecture
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2461-3031
ABSTRACT The article is devoted to the hitherto overlooked architectural motif of spherical supports in tower spires, observed in northern Europe since the early 17th century. Probably derived from the obelisk ball-based motif popular in iconography. It first appeared within the spire of the Westerkerk tower designed by Hendrik de Keyser, and later in the realizations of his students in Denmark. Graphic representations of the towers also played a role in popularizing the motif. The article investigates the potential routes of the motif ’s spread and explores possible connections between the different objects. Due to the various forms and contexts in which the motif was used, it is difficult to determine any additional ideological content beyond the prestigious functions associated with dominant tower structures. KEYWORDS tower, Welsche Haube, cupolaed spire, Hendrik de Keyser, Baltic Sea region, Danish Renaissance

I don’t find evidence that any of the balls were filled with mercury, but I’ll keep looking.

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16 responses to “What are the balls on Prague’s spires called??”

  1. Alex Scorpan Avatar
    Alex Scorpan

    I’m betting on this:
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globus_cruciger

    Reply
  2. chris heinz Avatar
    chris heinz

    Sorry, no help.

    But, isn’t the architecture in Old Town Prague mind-blowing? After a while, we were like “Enough, you win”, but then, another turret on a turret.

    We stayed over the bridge up the hill at The Red Lion, a couple blocks from St. Vitus.

    Reply
  3. Stephen Boisvert Avatar
    Stephen Boisvert

    Ball and Point finial.

    Reply
  4. “What are the the balls on Prague’s spires called?… « Lloyd Davis

    […] are the the balls on Prague’s spires called??” blogs.law.harvard.edu/doc/2015/09/20… << anyone help @dsearls out with […]

    Reply
  5. Doc Searls Avatar
    Doc Searls

    I think you have a bulls eye, Stephen. Thanks.

    Looking up “ball and point finial” doesn’t yield many results on Bing or Google image searches, but it yields enough. The best image of one is in this blog post here, which I found through this (now removed) image here. [Note on 13 June 2026: Those links go to the Internet Archive’s snapshot of the blog, which is gone from its original location.]

    But I can’t find anything (yet) associating “ball and point finial” and Prague, “city of a hundred spires” — nearly all of which have finials with balls in them.

    And now I’m back in New York, city of boxy buildings.

    Reply
  6. ttepasse Avatar
    ttepasse

    The german wikipedia has an article about so so called Turmkugel, literally tower ball or orb. According to this article there is a tradition of using the ball interior as a time capsule, somewhat the last build counterpart to the cornerstone.

    Which brings to mind the legend of the Vatican Obelisk which seems to have a gilded ball on the top from its erection in the Circus of Nero in 37 until it’s movement to the new build St. Peters Square in 15xx. According to middle age legend the ball should have contain the ashes of Julius Caesar.

    Reply
    1. E_29GK45 Avatar
      E_29GK45

      They are full of mercury, I know what they do, but I dont know what they are called, and I want a bullet-proof answer, someone who is 100% sure thats what its called

      Reply
  7. ttepasse Avatar
    ttepasse

    There’s a video of an opening of a Turmknopf and the time capsule therein. It seems it contains foremost a handwritten chronic of the church, some then new photographs and coins of the time. According to the speaker, it will be resealed and updated with documents of our current time.

    Reply
  8. Joe Bloe Avatar
    Joe Bloe

    I have heard they are, or once were filled with mercury. Due to the earths gravitational field it forces the mercury inside to spin in a certain direction, when this happens to mercury it creates an electric current. They then apparently were able to harness and store this electricity that was seeming created from nothing. One fact on the mercury I have found is that when mercury is indeed moving or spinning it creates an electric current.

    Reply
    1. Doc Searls Avatar
      Doc Searls

      Here is what Perplexity.ai says.

      [13 June 2026: That link like others in this thread, is now dead.]

      Reply
      1. TheMa Avatar
        TheMa

        Perplexity also don’t believe in geo-engineering or solar dimming.

        Reply
        1. Doc Searls Avatar
          Doc Searls

          Perplexity doesn’t believe in anything. It reports what it finds. When I ask it about geo-engineering and social dimming, it finds stuff.

          Reply
    2. E_29GK45 Avatar
      E_29GK45

      Precisely

      Reply
  9. KIMBERLY L WEIPERT Avatar
    KIMBERLY L WEIPERT

    I believe it also is filled with mercury and produces energy… Apparently pyramids also have a big pool of mercury underneath and anything that’s in the shape of a pyramid will give of a vortex of energy above it.. I suggest watching Michelle Gibson, Dr. Shiva Ayyudurai, and cultivateelevate for real honest and evidence to back it and Shiva teaches u how to think not what to think

    Kimberly Weipert

    Be the light

    Reply
    1. Doc Searls Avatar
      Doc Searls

      Thank! You got me digging.

      Some decorative glass finials and tree ornaments were coated internally with mercury amalgams, suggesting a historical connection between shiny decorative spheres and mercury. Look up mercury finials and you’ll find lots of objects that resemble the ball-and-point finials piercing the sky in majestic old European buildings.

      But I have not found evidence that the gilded spheres on those old spires contain mercury or generate energy. The architectural literature describes them as spheres, globes, or finials that are a feature of Baroque and European architecture.

      I would love, however, to see restoration reports or historical records showing mercury inside pire spheres. For now, however, I believe the mercury story is a legend that found its way to architecture from mercury-backed decorative glass.

      But I don’t want to dismiss Michelle Gibson or Shiva Ayyudurai before I find what you’re sourcing in their work. Do you have a link or some links?

      Reply
      1. Doc Searls Avatar
        Doc Searls

        An additional thought:

        “Mercury glass” (silvered glass) was widely made in Bohemia beginning in the nineteenth century. Mercury glass objects often took the form of shiny spheres, ornaments, and finials. Mercury was used in some early silvering processes, though the industry quickly moved to silver nitrate while keeping the old name. In other words, there really was mercury associated with shiny balls made in Bohemia, but probably not with the gilded architectural spheres atop Prague’s spires.

        There is surely much more to be studied here.

        Reply

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