Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The astronomical clock of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Strasbourg, classified as a historical monument since 1987, is a jewel of the Renaissance. Considered one of the seven wonders of Germany in its time, it embodies the alliance between science, art and mechanics. Its complex, still operational mechanism makes it an exceptional testimony of the European watchmaker genius.

The first clock, called the Three Kings (1352–1354), presented a parade of the Magi in front of the Holy Family. Used in the 16th century, it remains only through a few remains, such as a wooden cock-automate (circa 1350), the oldest preserved western automata. This cock, now exhibited at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Strasbourg, symbolizes the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in watchmaking art.

Between 1547 and 1574, a second clock was designed by a team led by mathematician Conrad Dasypodius, taking over Christian Herlin's unfinished project. Dasypodius, working with the watchmakers Habrecht and the painter Tobias Stimmer, integrated innovations such as a perpetual calendar and panels predicting eclipses. Remarkably, Copernicus' portrait was already there, proving the open-mindedness of the designers. This clock, which was stopped before the Revolution, was restored in the 19th century.

From 1838 to 1843, Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué, Alsatian self-taught, radically transformed the clock by modernizing its mechanisms while retaining the 16th century buffet. He introduced epicycloid gears to reduce friction and adjusted the ecclesiastical comput to the Gregorian calendar, a first mechanical. Schwilgué also added the parade of the Apostles, absent from previous versions, and perfected the representation of the precession of the equinoxes.

Clock automatons, triggered at quarter hour, captivate visitors. An angel rings the bell, a hourglass turns around, and four figures symbolizing the ages of life march in front of Death. At noon, the twelve Apostles passed before Christ, accompanied by a rooster, an inheritance of the first clocks. These mechanisms, combined with dials indicating lunar phases, zodiac signs and planetary positions, make this clock a scientific and artistic feat.

Owned by the state since the 19th century, the clock is managed by the cathedral factory, although its maintenance was historically carried out by local watchmakers, such as the Ungerer family (1858–1989) and then the Faullimmel (since 1989). A committee of experts, including historians, astronomers and watchmakers, now oversees its conservation. Its mechanism, always manually raised, remains a living symbol of the Strasbourg heritage.

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