Of great historical interest are the tower clock installed in 1370 by Henri de Vic, a watchmaker from Lorraine, in the royal palace in Paris by decree of Charles V. De Vic in his watch design carefully developed and successfully implemented the mechanical interaction of the clock and the fighting mechanism, necessary to strike the clock. After the reconstruction of de Vic's clock by Julien Leroy, it was installed in the Palais de Justice. Their blue dial was decorated with white lilies, a symbol of royalty. The dial had only an hour hand (the minute hand was not needed in those days).
The clock is adorned with two allegorical bas-relief figures representing Law and Justice. The inscription under the clock reads: "This mechanism, correctly dividing time into twelve hours, encourages us to accurately administer justice and observe the law."
The clock on the clock tower of the Cité Palace was the first and only public clock in Paris.
Located on the banks of the Seine, Rouen is called the city of a hundred towers. Among them, there is one special - a tower with an old clock, made by the mechanic de Felens in 1389.
They do not have a minute hand; only the hour hand moves on the dial. Its tip is a figurine of a golden ram with an extended front leg, which shows the time. This animal was revered by the townspeople for the fact that thanks to the processing and sale of its wool, the city became rich. Even the coat of arms of Rouen depicts a ram. A silver ball above the dial shows the phases of the moon. It was an important indicator for navigation, agriculture and astrological forecasts. Below, under the hour dial, there is a sector, allegorically indicating the days of the week.
Promotional video:
This is one of the first clocks that struck not only the clock, but also the quarter of an hour.
One of the oldest clocks in the world is the Astronomical Clock of the Saint-Jean Cathedral of Lyon. The first mention of them dates back to 1379, but when exactly they were constructed is unknown. Three dials show the date, time, position of the Moon, Sun, stars over Lyon and the dates of all church holidays up to 2019.
After restoration in the 17th century, an upper tier with automatic figurines was added.
At noon, at 13, 14 and 15 o'clock in the afternoon, under the ringing of bells, the crowing of a rooster is heard, the doors open and figures of dolls appear, playing scenes of the Annunciation.
Strasbourg Cathedral, one of the oldest in Western Europe, was at one time the tallest building in the world. The scale and splendor of the temple, with its soaring Gothic structure and thousands of sculptures on the facade, is truly amazing. It contains the best creations of human hands, the most perfect of which is the astronomical clock, considered one of the seven wonders of Germany. They were installed in 1354 and were about 12 m high. The clock contained a calendar of transitional holidays, in front of the clock there was a spherical astrolabe, the hands of which showed the movement of the Sun, Moon and daytime stars. In the 19th century, a mechanism was added to them, showing the orbits of the Earth, the Moon and the then known planets (from Mercury to Saturn).
Every 15 minutes the clock "comes to life": one of four figures, symbolizing four human ages, floats in front of the audience: an infant, a young man, a mature man (warrior) and an old man. The figure of Death awaits all of them.
Every hour the Angel turns the hourglass and the following scene takes place on the upper tier: the twelve apostles bow down before the appearing Jesus, and the rooster announces Peter's denial, crowing and flapping his wings.
Jesus blesses the figures of the apostles three times, and then, turning, blesses the parishioners and chases away skeletal Death to the ringing of large bells on the tower.
The action ends with ancient chariot gods - symbols of the days of the week. Diana symbolizes Monday, Mars Tuesday, Mercury Wednesday, Jupiter Thursday, Venus Friday, Saturn Saturday and Apollo Sunday.
For rooster singing, blowing furs and flutes were used. The clock was equipped with a set of small gongs that played hymns. The name of the watch builder remains unknown.
The astronomical clock from the Cathedral of Saint-Etienne in Bourges was made in 1424 and installed at the Epiphany of Louis XI. This is the oldest watch in France that has survived to this day. On the lower dial, you can determine the date, the phase of the moon, the position of the sun in the celestial sphere. The bells placed at the top ring every quarter of an hour. This watch is very accurate. The calendar and clock have been restored twice.
Created at the request of Archbishop Auguste-Lucien Verité in 1858-60, the astronomical clock was installed in the Cathedral of Saint John Besançon. They have a complex and precise mechanism with over 30,000 parts and 11 moving parts.
57 dials show many parameters: date, time of year, time of day, planetary movement, solar and lunar eclipses, solstices, tidal hours in different ports, Easter dates, day and night hours in different cities.
The astronomical clock in the Saint-Pierre-de-Beauvais Cathedral is considered a masterpiece. Created in 1869 by Auguste-Lucien Verite, famous for the astronomical clock he made for Besançon, the giant astronomical clock contains 90,000 mechanical parts, 52 enamel dials, 68 mechanical figurines and stands 12 meters high.
Many dials show not only time, but also data of the main astronomical phenomena: sidereal time, solar equation, declination of the sun, movement of celestial bodies, sunrise and sunset of the sun and moon, moon phases, ebb and flow, epactu - the number used to calculate Easter.
The clock is arranged so that a few moments before the new hour, a rooster crows and flaps its wings. When the chimes strike the hour, Christ, in whose glory the angels play the trumpet, administers the Last Judgment. Virtue is sent by angels to heaven, while Vice goes to hell, carried away by the devil.
In 1988, the astronomical clock stopped. To bring them back to life, a special association was created, and the best experts in France were invited to restore the watches. Thanks to the efforts made, the watch started working again and today is in full working order.
