One of the places where you should start your trip in Paris is the Île de la Cité, the place from which the city developed. The island is home to, among other things, Notre Dame Cathedral The famous, the Church of theSainte Chapelle and the remains of The concierge (See recommended routeIf you follow the route from the old Pont Neuf bridge along the Quai de l'Horloge east along the Seine River, and turn right on Boulevard du Palais towards the Palais de Justice, you probably won't miss the large and magnificent clock on the corner to your right.
Don't let the ornate blue-gold clock fool you, this is the first public clock of Paris And one of the first mechanical clocks in the world. A clock that has been located for centuries, in the square base of the tower and contains a lot of interesting information spanning different periods in the days of France.
The Clock Tower (Tour de l'Horloge), or Tour de Lorloge, was built between 1350 and 1353 by King John II (for some reason nicknamed "the Good", despite his resounding failure in the Hundred Years' War) on marshland on the banks of the Seine River. The massive rectangular tower rose to a height of 47 meters, its walls were one meter thick, and it served as an observation post, in the northeast corner of the Palais de la Cité, on whose remains the Conciergerie now stands, the former residence of the kings of France since the Capa dynasty in the 10th century.
About twenty years later, Jean's son, Charles V, invited a German clockmaker from Lorraine named Henry de Wyck, who worked on the clock for two years. In its early years, the clock mechanism was equipped with a silver bell that rang at regular intervals. In 1418, the clock was moved to the spire at the top of the tower and replaced with hands, intended to help the residents of Paris bring some order and organization to their daily lives. The accuracy of the clock from that period is unknown, but it is likely that the clock was maintained and adjusted on a daily basis to correctly reflect the time.
Over the years, the clock has undergone many renovations and changes, the most notable of which were during the reigns of Henry II, III, and IV. Why are the three kings mentioned in one breath? Because each of them has their own interesting representation on the clock. In the old days, royalty (and even today) used to stamp their seal and mark their assets with monograms that consisted of a decoration combining the initials of their names. On the clock, below the angels' feet, is a monogram of the letters H and C, representing Henry II of the Valois dynasty (1519-1559) combined with the name of his wife. Catherine de MediciBut it is no coincidence that the sharp-eyed will notice that the two overlapping letters H and C create a shape that more closely resembles two upside-down letters of D. A hidden D that was later learned to point to Diane de Poitiers, the beloved mistress of King Henry II.
Henry III (1551-1589), the son of the previous one, left his mark more decisively, and quite a few decorative parts are attributed to his reign. Henry, who served as King of Poland for a short period, until he was called to re-instate the throne of his deceased brother, King Charles IX, made sure to note this on the clock as well. Below the crown, the two royal symbols with which he was crowned can be clearly seen (the Polish in red and the French in blue), and below the gambrel, Henry even added the Latin inscription.
"QUI DEDIT ANTE DUAS TRIPLICEM DABIT ILLE CORONAM"
And in a free translation: “He who has already been crowned with two crowns, will be crowned with a third crown.”
It can be assumed that the king, who was deeply involved in the bloody religious wars between Catholics and Protestants (the Huguenots), was hinting at another crown he wished for (besides the two he held), the last crown he would be crowned with in heaven after his death. In any case, Henry III turned to the renowned Renaissance sculptor, Germain Pilon, who had long ago sculpted the figures of his parents: Henry II and Catherine de Medici, and asked him to create two figures on the sides of the clock.
Philo sculpts in burnt clay two women, their bodies covered in gold and dressed in royal blue, who constitute an allegory of law and justice. The figure representing Justice carries the two well-known attributes of scales and a sword, while the other, representing authority and power, carries the tablets of the law. It is worth noting that Philo's clock is the clock we know today, which has remained intact since 1585.
What is strange here is the existence of another monogram, a monogram that combines the initials of Henry IV – H and his first wife Margaret of Valois – with the letter M. Surprisingly, the monogram appears on the decoration surrounding the same royal symbols of France and Poland (which were actually associated with its predecessor), and alternately under the arch that covers the clock.
Another interesting fact is the inscription engraved below the figures:
"MACHINA QUAE BIS SEX TAM JUSTE DIVIDIT HORAS, JUSTITIAM SERVARE MONET LEGESQUE TUERI"
Which means: “This mechanism divides time precisely into twelve equal hours, helping you to protect justice and uphold the law.”
About a century later, during the reign of the “Sun King” Louis XIV, the round plate beneath the hands was replaced by a sun. In the years that followed, other spectacular details were added that are worth paying attention to: gilded stag heads, grotesque figures, winged angels, and two nude female figures supporting a bow. Like many royal symbols, the clock was badly damaged during the French Revolution and was restored in 1849 by the watchmaker Lepaute, a renowned watchmaking dynasty that created, among other things, the clocks on the facades of the École Militaire and the Luxembourg Palace.
It seemed that the glory of the clock was lost forever, but miraculously the original documents of the clock were found in the archives of the National Library. Which led to vigorous restoration work in 2012 that returned the clock to its glory days. One of the most noticeable changes is found in the clock hands: the tip of the minute hand is an arrow, while the tip of the short hand is the fleur de lis (the white lily). The clock's decorations were also redesigned, as was its golden color, which was revived. However, the essential change was, in fact, the return to the blue background, decorated with two different patterns of the fleur de lis symbol, the distinctive symbol of the French monarchy.
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