Astronomical Clock

This guide to the Astronomical Clock in Strasbourg Cathedral follows watchmaker Jean-Baptiste Schwilgué, who grew up watching the cathedral's second clock stand frozen for fifty years before he finally won the contract to rebuild it in 1838. You'll hear about the daily noon procession of apostles filing past a figure of Christ, and the ages-of-life figures that shuffle past death beforehand, plus the gilded rooster crowing above them, a design with roots stretching back centuries and a run-in with lightning in 1640. It also touches on the mechanical calendar Schwilgué hid inside the clock's base. Stand in the square before half past noon to catch the full sequence.