Timeline

Heritage classified

Key figures

Origin and history

The Auxerre Clock Tower, erected in the 15th century, rises on the remains of an ancient Roman tower called the Gaillarde Tower (IIIth–IVth centuries), integrated with the city's first ramparts. Originally, this round tower protected the gate of Paris, a strategic access to the road leading to the capital. In the Middle Ages, she served as a prison until 1602, when the jails were transferred to the courthouse.

The construction of the present tower began after 1457, when Count Jean de Bourgogne authorized the Auxerrois to install a belfry and a clock there, despite the financial difficulties linked to the wars (Cent Years, Burgundy War) and the plague epidemics (1466–169). The work, delayed by these crises, started only in 1483 under Charles VIII. The tower was then raised by a gothic frame arrow, housing an innovative watchmaking mechanism: two dials indicating both solar hours, moonlights and moon phases, a rarity for the time.

The mechanism, installed in an attitudinal chamber, had two hands per dial: the sun's moon (24 hours), the other moon with a two-coloured globe rotating on itself to simulate the lunar phases. The original dials, adorned with arabesque and coloured glasses, were replaced over the centuries due to deteriorations (1670, 1814). The tower also suffered major damage, such as the fire of 1825 which destroyed its arrow, replaced by a pyramidal wooden structure deemed unaesthetic.

Ranked a historic monument in 1862, the tower was restored several times, notably in 2018 (watchmaking mechanism) and 2020–2021 (recast boxes in Austria). Its sundial, added in 1747, bears the inscription "Me lumen. Your umbra" ("I am the light, you are shadow"), while 17th century Latin currencies, now erased, once adorn its faces. The tower remains a symbol of Austria's heritage, located in the pedestrian area of the city centre.

Its history reflects local upheavals: wars of religion (Huguenots hid a profession of faith there in 1567), repeated reparations (XVIIth–XVIIIth centuries), and technical adaptations. The Hebrew inscriptions on some walls also evoke the presence of a medieval Jewish community. Today, its night lighting and restored dials make it an emblematic place of Burgundy-Franche-Comté.

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