Une figurine en bronze automatisée frappe les heures sur une grande cloche qui fait deux fois la hauteur de l’attaquant. Sur la tour médiévale Maurizio (Torre di Maurizio) sur la Piazza del Duomo à Orvieto, Ombrie, Italie. L’horloge mécanique, achevée en 1348, a été commandée par l’Opera del Duomo (atelier de la cathédrale d’Orvieto) pour contrôler les ouvriers sur le chantier de construction de la cathédrale. Le nom original de l'horloge était «ariologium de muriccio», c'est-à-dire horloge de chantier. L'attaquant de cloche en bronze représente un officier de l'Opéra de Duomo, un Dottiere.
2724 x 2724 px | 23,1 x 23,1 cm | 9,1 x 9,1 inches | 300dpi
Date de la prise de vue:
6 août 2011
Lieu:
Maurizio Tower, Piazza del Duomo, Orvieto, Umbria, Italy
Informations supplémentaires:
Cette image peut avoir des imperfections car il s’agit d’une image historique ou de reportage.
Location: Orvieto, Umbria, Italy: medieval mechanical clock and bell striker on the Maurizio Tower (Torre di Maurizio) in the Piazza del Duomo. The bell striker stands with a large bell at twice his height which he rings every hour on the hour. The bell striker is not Maurizio. The tower’s current name derives from corruption of its original name, ‘ariologium de muriccio’, i.e. construction site clock. It was a clock for Orvieto Cathedral’s construction site. It was in 1347 that the Opera del Duomo (workshop of Orvieto Cathedral or works commission, also known as the OPA), in order to exercise more control over its workers, commissioned a master watchmaker, Francesco di Maestro Orvietano, to create the mechanism for a very modern clock which was completed in 1348 and became the first mechanical clock of this type documented in Europe. The clock has an automaton cast with the bronze alloy used to make the bells. The automaton has a height of 165 cm (5 ft 5 inches) and depicts a Dottiere, that is an officer of the Opera del Duomo, in a Dottiere’s typical dress. The unusual headgear worn today by the bronze mannequin is a modern addition. The Maurizio Tower’s clockwork mechanism consists of a timekeeping device to which an automaton is attached by way of a pin which allows the automaton to turn to its side and strike the hour. The clockwork mechanism that currently moves the bell striker dates back to the 1700s. Orvieto, Etruscan in origin, is at the summit of a 150-metre-high tufa cliff which rises above the surrounding plains much like an island in the sea. The city declined in Roman times and then became strategically important in the early Middle Ages as a natural fortress. From the time it became a free Commune in 1137 to the 1300s, it expanded rapidly and during this period many fine palaces, towers and churches were built. D0637.A7618.A
