Zurich St Peter's Church Clock Tower and Art Sculpture
by Ginger Wakem
Title
Zurich St Peter's Church Clock Tower and Art Sculpture
Artist
Ginger Wakem
Medium
Photograph
Description
St Peter's Church clock tower and sculpture were shot in Zurich, Switzerland. The little bird and nest is roof top art which is common practice in Zurich.
The church tower and the nave of St. Peter do not have the same owner: Until the French Revolution the tower belonged to the former city republic of Z�rich, since 1803 to the city of Z�rich. Belfry and bells belong to the Reformed Church of the canton of Z�rich, as well as the staircase leading to the tower.[1]
The church tower was primarily used for fire police duties, and 1340 AD the first fire guard was set in duty. In the pre- and early Romanesque area, St. Peter had no church tower, i.e. the first massive three-storey tower was built in early 13th century AD. The first floor with Romanesque ribbed vault dates back to that period. In 1450 the tower was increased to 64 metres (210 ft) (as of today) and a pitched (helmet) roof was attached. That 24 metres (79 ft) high part of the tower was in 1996 re-covered with 42,000 larch shingles from the Engadine valley,[1] since then being the only wooden roof in Z�rich.[2]
Towards the end of the 13th century a mechanical church clock was installed. In 1366 it was renewed and got one only dial that was directed towards the Limmat and only displayed the hours. Around 1460, the sense of time has been refined by half on the quarter-hour strike, and in 1538 the striking clock was replaced, and all four facades got dials. Replacements of the clock mechanism followed in 1593/94 and 1675 and 1826. In 1844 a new movement with quarter-hour strike was installed; the electrification of the work was carried out in 1873. In 1972 the balance was replaced by a fully automatic master clock in the clock room of the St. Peter's tower, and in 1996 the electrified mechanical movement of 1844 was shut down and replaced by a central computer system. The clock tower of St. Peter was for centuries Z�rich's 'official local time', and all public city clocks had to conform to it. The church clock of St. Peter has the largest tower clock face in Europe, the outer diameter of each of the four church clocks measures 8.64 metres (28.3 ft),[1] the minute hand 5.73 metres (18.8 ft), the hour hand 5.07 metres (16.6 ft), and the minute crack of the large pointer measures 0.455 metres (1.5 ft).[2]
Uploaded
February 23rd, 2015
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