I had the lovely opportunity to explore the town of Poznań during my visit to Poland last month. After the usual return-from-work routine, followed by a little extended travel and the inevitable task of downloading hundreds of photographs, I found myself looking through my pictures from Poznań and thought I would share one of my favourite little discoveries.
Two mechanical goats. Every day at noon, two metal billy goats emerge from the clock tower of Poznań's Renaissance Town Hall and butt heads twelve times, accompanied by a bugle call. The tradition dates back to the 16th century.
And, of course, there is a wonderfully entertaining story behind them.
According to the local legend, in 1551, a great feast was being prepared to celebrate the installation of a new clock at the Town Hall. The kitchen was preparing an important roast for the distinguished guests when the meat slipped from the spit and was ruined in the fire.
A young kitchen boy, desperate to find a replacement, supposedly brought two white billy goats into the kitchen. The goats, understandably unimpressed with this plan, escaped. They ran all the way up towards the Town Hall tower, where the guests eventually spotted them butting heads on the cornice.
Instead of being angry about the ruined feast, everyone apparently found the sight so hilarious that the boy was forgiven. The story goes that the mechanical goats were later created to commemorate the amusing incident.
Now, here is the part I find particularly fascinating.
The legend is folklore. We don't have historical evidence that two escaped goats actually caused this particular commotion. But the clockwork goats themselves are very real, and their connection to the 1551 clock is documented. A surviving contract with clock maker Bartłomiej Wolff describes a rather wonderfully named “foolish contraption” involving two goats that would butt heads.
And that distinction somehow makes me love the story even more. A city took a piece of folklore and turned it into something people could still experience centuries later. Today, visitors gather in the Old Market Square, wait for noon, look up at the Town Hall and watch two little goats appear and clash horns twelve times. I know this to be true because I was one of them! 😇
A tiny piece of history. A little bit of machinery. A centuries-old legend. And a moment that still makes people laugh.
I love discovering things like this while traveling. You can walk into a city looking at buildings and monuments, and suddenly find yourself learning about the stories people have carried with them for generations.
Poznań's goats are a lovely reminder that history doesn't always survive in serious monuments and dusty archives. Sometimes it survives as two silly little goats, still butting heads at noon. And I am very glad I got to see them. 🐐🐐
The Poznań Billy Goats legend and history
