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SWITZERLAND BY RAIL - REGIONS -
BERN
ZYTLOGGE CLOCK TOWER - GLOCKENSPIEL TOUR
It is the most recognized landmark of Bern and has a place in the history
of science and the universe. Every day at 4 minutes before the hour,
tourists visitors to Bern gather below the famous tower clock, the Zytglogge
Clock, to watch its colorful glockenspiel mechanism of twirling bears
and medieval figures, leading to the striking of the bell by the Greek
god of time, Chronos. This daily ritual which has been an attraction
in the Swiss capital since the 15th Century. And it was while riding
on a city tram on his way home from work at th the Bern patent office
that Albert Einstein looked back at the receding clock and imagined what
would happen if he were traveling at the speed of light.
The medieval clock tower of Bern was built around 1218 as a watchtower.
It was used as a prison for a time for woman convicted of having sex
with priests, called Pfaffendirnen. The current glockenspiel mechanism
was added around 1530, designed by Bern master clockmaker, Kasper Bruner.
To cast the clockworks, he built a forge inside the tower itself which
still remains. The clock works are still to this day wound by hand and
powered by the weight of a pendulum. The Bern Zytglogge Clock has two
faces, the main time clock and an astronomical clock, showing the movements
of the zodiac against the turning of the
Earth represented by the black night sky, the dark blue of dawn and the
powder blue sky of day, with sky crisscrossed by golden lines of the
horizon and the tropics. The gold bell striker (jacquemart) stands high
in the cupola, swinging his mallet on the hour.
You can join the crowds
below the tower to catch the hourly show or if you want a closer look.
A guided tour of the inside of the Zytglogge Clock, meets at the clock
at 2:30pm every day. The tour lasts just under and hour and cost 15 CHF
for adults and 7.50 CHF for children.
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