Description
The Astrarium Clock of Padua, or astronomical clock, stands on the Clock Tower in Piazza dei Signori, between the Palazzo del Capitanio and the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi. With a 5.6-meter dial it is one of the largest of its kind.
The dial faces the square and is crowned by a band of zodiac signs. The mechanism is hidden on the third floor of the tower, on a wooden frame protected by a large cabinet. On the octagonal lantern is a bell that strikes the "botto" every hour and, after about five minutes, the "ribotto", with a hammer driven by the fifteenth-century mechanism.
At the base of the tower is the triumphal arch by Giovanni Maria Falconetto, from 1531. It was meant to give monumentality to the square, where civic ceremonies and tournaments were held. It cites Roman arches, with the Doric order and two winged victories, and bears the inscription in honor of the Venetian Senate and Doge Andrea Gritti.
On the entablature two men-at-arms in antique dress hold Gritti's arms, and on one side Falconetto signed himself: "architect from Verona".
The dial has a frame with Ionic pilasters, also by Falconetto, from 1537.
Anyone who counts the zodiac signs finds eleven: the Libra is missing. According to Paduans it was a spite of the builder, paid less than agreed: no justice, no scales. It is a story with no historical foundation.
The truth is more technical. Between 1787 and 1792 the abbot Bartolomeo Toffoli modified the clock following the most ancient zodiac, in which Libra and Scorpio were a single constellation. That is how Libra vanished.
The clock's history is longer. The first was designed in 1344 by Jacopo Dondi for the southern tower of the palace of the Carraresi, the lords of Padua. A fire damaged it, during Prince Francesco Novello's skirmishes against the Visconti.
The present clock was reassembled, reusing Dondi's original zodiac signs, and was inaugurated on the feast of Saint Anthony in 1437. The tower had been born as the eastern gate of the Carraresi palace and had been raised and ornamented in Gothic style.
The clock was so successful that Dondi's descendants had "dell'Orologio" added to their surname.
Don't miss
• The dial with the zodiac.
• Falconetto's triumphal arch.
• The chimes of the botto and the ribotto.
Did you know?
• The Lion of Saint Mark on the arch is a reconstruction, after the damage of the Napoleonic era.
• The two parts of the ancient single constellation are still called the "north claw" and the "south claw".
The dial faces the square and is crowned by a band of zodiac signs. The mechanism is hidden on the third floor of the tower, on a wooden frame protected by a large cabinet. On the octagonal lantern is a bell that strikes the "botto" every hour and, after about five minutes, the "ribotto", with a hammer driven by the fifteenth-century mechanism.
At the base of the tower is the triumphal arch by Giovanni Maria Falconetto, from 1531. It was meant to give monumentality to the square, where civic ceremonies and tournaments were held. It cites Roman arches, with the Doric order and two winged victories, and bears the inscription in honor of the Venetian Senate and Doge Andrea Gritti.
On the entablature two men-at-arms in antique dress hold Gritti's arms, and on one side Falconetto signed himself: "architect from Verona".
The dial has a frame with Ionic pilasters, also by Falconetto, from 1537.
Anyone who counts the zodiac signs finds eleven: the Libra is missing. According to Paduans it was a spite of the builder, paid less than agreed: no justice, no scales. It is a story with no historical foundation.
The truth is more technical. Between 1787 and 1792 the abbot Bartolomeo Toffoli modified the clock following the most ancient zodiac, in which Libra and Scorpio were a single constellation. That is how Libra vanished.
The clock's history is longer. The first was designed in 1344 by Jacopo Dondi for the southern tower of the palace of the Carraresi, the lords of Padua. A fire damaged it, during Prince Francesco Novello's skirmishes against the Visconti.
The present clock was reassembled, reusing Dondi's original zodiac signs, and was inaugurated on the feast of Saint Anthony in 1437. The tower had been born as the eastern gate of the Carraresi palace and had been raised and ornamented in Gothic style.
The clock was so successful that Dondi's descendants had "dell'Orologio" added to their surname.
Don't miss
• The dial with the zodiac.
• Falconetto's triumphal arch.
• The chimes of the botto and the ribotto.
Did you know?
• The Lion of Saint Mark on the arch is a reconstruction, after the damage of the Napoleonic era.
• The two parts of the ancient single constellation are still called the "north claw" and the "south claw".