Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The monumental clock of Tassin-la-Demi-Lune was built at the initiative of Mayor Étienne Marin, who wanted to mark the Republican time in front of the clock of the Saint Joseph church, destroyed in 1971. Inaugurated on 5 April 1908 after a first stone laid on 23 June 1907, its financing mele the communal fund and public subscription (16,000 francs). The project also symbolized secular modernity, in opposition to the religious influence of the time.

The octagonal stone column of Saint-Martin-de-Senozan houses a hollow barrel accessible by an iron ladder. Its four dials of 1.20 m in diameter are decorated with allegories: Apollo for the day (bottom) and an owl with wings deployed for the night (top), connected by quivers representing the arrows of time. The base, originally designed as a public bench, supports a crowned structure with an openwork dome, typical of the Louis XVI style revisited.

The building is the work of architects Robert and Chollat, while the cast-iron sculptures were made by Pierre Devaux and moulded by the Fonderies du Val d'Osne. The masonry was entrusted to the local contractor Terracol, and the watchmaking mechanism to the Maison Charvet in Lyon. Restored in 2002 by the Foundry Vincent (Brignais), the clock was classified as Historic Monument in 2007, highlighting its heritage importance.

According to local tradition, the mayor wanted to impose a republican hour separate from that of the church, reflecting tensions between municipal and religious power in the early twentieth century. The clock, still located in Vauboin Square at the intersection of the old national roads 7 and 89, remains an urban landmark and a testament to the public architecture of the period.

External links