Guided tours of the Astronomical Clock in Besançon

Name: Guided tours of the Astronomical Clock in Besançon
Start: 2022-09-17T10:00:00+02:00
End: 2022-09-18T18:00:00+02:00
Location: Horloge astronomique de Besançon

Discover the technical masterpiece of Louis-Auguste Vérité!

17 and 18 September 2022Passed

Conditions

Free entrance | 20 people at a time in the room

Registration

Base Regard / Centre des Monuments Nationaux

The astronomical clock at Saint-Jean de Besançon Cathedral was designed and built by the mechanical watchmaker Auguste-Lucien Vérité from 1858 to 1860 at the request of Cardinal Matthieu.
Installed in a room of the lower parts of the bell tower, the Astronomical clock is the central point of a very important mechanism.
It has a precise and complex mechanism of more than 30,000 pieces and 11 movements.
Thanks to the continuous guided tours, its ingenious mechanism and the challenges of its restoration will have no secrets for you!
Please note: Regular departures from 10am to 12.30pm and from 2pm to 6pm.

About the location

Horloge astronomique de Besançon

9 rue du Chapitre, 25000 Besançon

Doubs
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Listed as a Historical Monument in 1991, the Astronomical Clock of Saint-Jean de Besançon Cathedral was designed and built by the mechanical watchmaker Auguste-Lucien Vérité from 1858 to 1860 at the request of Cardinal Matthieu. Installed in a room of the lower parts of the bell tower, the astronomical clock is the central point of a very important mechanism. It guarantees the operation of the exterior and interior time dials of the cathedral as well as 2 comtoises bells.
It has a precise and complex mechanism of more than 30,000 pieces and 11 movements. Driven by weights, some are used for animations such as ringtones and automatons. The 57 dials provide many indications: calendars, motion of the planets, eclipses, time of the full sea in different ports... When its mechanism was still in operation, the clock also operated the four outer dials located on either side of the tower of the bell tower and a fifth placed inside the Saint John Cathedral. Discover the technical masterpiece of