THE TOWN HALL CLOCK ON THE LANCE TOWER The lance tower on the New Town Hall with its musical clock is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful and original monuments in the town of Ochsenfurt. The Ochsenfurt clock is probably the oldest working, hand-wound, wrought iron astronomical tower clock in Europe. The clockwork has to be wound up every day within 26 hours to prevent it from coming to a standstill. Temperature and humidity fluctuations also affect the operation of the sensitive clockwork.
THE HISTORY OF THE CLOCK It has been documented since 1496 that a clock in the new Ochsenfurt town hall showed the citizens more than just the time. This work by an unknown blacksmith was called "Moonlight". And with good reason. Because the clock showed not only the hours but also the phases of the moon and the day of the moon. The clock is mentioned in the accounts of the city council. In 1505, the clock was repaired by the Ochsenfurt locksmith Mühlbach, who immortalized himself in the vestibule of the quarter-hour strike with the sawn-out number 1505. Around 50 years later, in 1560, the people of Ochsenfurt ordered a new clock with two new carved images and coats of arms from master Sycher in Würzburg. The carved images are probably the councilors looking out of the windows during a puppet show. They traded in the old clockwork for the order. The clever master clockmaker then reused a large part of the old clock in the new clockwork. This included not only the drive and the entire mechanism of the moon clock, but also parts of the figurehead, such as the skeleton. The so-called "mayor's head", which was proven to have been made in his workshop by none other than Tilmann Riemenschneider as early as 1505, must therefore be a second use. Unfortunately, the people of Ochsenfurt were not initially happy with the new clock. A lively correspondence with the city fathers and the sovereign, the Bishop of Würzburg, testifies to various difficulties until the clock and figurehead worked perfectly. Over the years, the clock had to be repaired several times and parts of the figurehead replaced. The skeleton in particular has been renewed several times, and the oxen on the roof are also more recent. The clock received an even more significant innovation in 1801; this number is also engraved in the quarter-hour vestibule. During an overhaul, a pendulum and minute hand were installed. Previously, the accuracy of the movement was determined by a balance. But this technology deviated by between a quarter and half an hour during the day. Therefore, until then it was sufficient to only display the quarter hours on the dial.
THE MOON CLOCK Astronomical clocks became popular in the late Middle Ages in churches, town halls and towers. An astronomical clock is a mechanical clock that, in addition to the time, also shows astronomical facts such as the position of the sun and moon above the horizon and in the zodiac, the phases of the moon and, in rare cases, the positions of the major planets in the sky. A special feature found mainly in southern Germany is the moon clock. These are normal clocks that are accompanied by a separate display for the phases of the moon. Most of the moon clocks that are still in existence show the phases of the moon using a rotating ball or a disk, which can be used to identify the shape of the crescent moon in the sky and thus the position of the moon. In Ochsenfurt you can also find a disk decorated with golden stars, on which a pointer on a dial from 1 to 30 shows the lunar cycle and thus the current age of the moon. The number "30" on the clock led to the false assumption for a long time that the dial had a date display. The number "3" before the "0" is probably a later addition. When the moon is new, the hand points to zero, when it shows 15 it is full moon, and when it is exactly 29.5 it is new moon again. The clockwork therefore needs exactly 29.5 days for the hand to complete one revolution. That is how long a lunar cycle lasts. As prestige objects, astronomical clocks are often richly decorated and sometimes also equipped with a carillon or a puppet show. In addition to depicting the movements of the heavens that were being researched at the time, they also served to encourage viewers to think more deeply about time and their own transience. Puppet shows were used to illustrate these connections. The Ochsenfurt clock is also decorated with such a puppet show, which offers a spectacle worth seeing every hour on the hour, even today.
Translated by Google •
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