Messina Cathedral And Its Automated Astronomical Clock Tower

MessageToEagle.com – There are many majestic and beautiful cathedrals all across the world. What makes the Messina Cathedral unique is its beautiful automated astronomical clock tower.

The Messina Cathedral is located near the northeast corner of Sicily contains the containing the remains of King Conrad, ruler of Germany and Sicily in the 13th century. The building dates back 12th century.

The cathedral has an unfortunate history of destruction.

At the beginning of the 16th century, Martino Montanini, an Italian architect planned what was to be, at 90 meters, the highest bell-tower in Sicily.

Struck by lightning in 1588, the tower was rebuilt around 1575.

The base of the bell tower originally housed the city archives, which were taken by the Spanish in 1678 and transported to Seville, where they remain to this day.

The old bell-tower, damaged in the earthquake of 1783, was demolished soon afterwards. The present tower, is majestic, but still only an imitation of its predecessor.

In 1908, an earthquake caused serious damage and the cathedral had to be restored in 1919-1920.

During the Second World War when the Allied dropped bombs on the city, a fire destroyed part of the cathedral which was rebuilt in 1943.

Messina Cathedral has the world’s largest astronomical clock

In 1933, Archbishop Paino ordered the Ungerer Company of Strasbourg to incorporate the largest astronomical clock in the world in the bell tower.

The astronomical clock is made up of partial devices with gears and levers, self-contained in their individual operation corresponding to the various scenes. It is run and gets its kinetic energy from a powerful counterweight mechanism of clockwork, set in the central storey of the building.

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When the central mechanism sets in motion the pointers of the dials, starts the sound of quarters and hours, the movements of the various pictures passing within the span of the 24 hours, while the movements and the sound effects occurring from 12 to 12,15 are initially started by the same central mechanism and then each figure passes the starting signal on to the following one, after completing its own movement. It’s a truly magnificent view worthy of admiration.

It’s not surprising that the belfry’s mechanically-animated statues, which illustrate events from the civil and religious history of the city every day at noon, are a popular tourist attraction.

References:

Divino Travel Sicily

Clocks of Europe

Wikipedia