Graz clock tower
The Graz clock tower is a 28 meter high clock tower . It stands on the Schloßberg and is the landmark of Graz with its dials over 5 meters in diameter and gold-plated hands .
history
The core of the clock tower in Graz probably dates from the 13th century and is one of the oldest buildings on the Schloßberg. The first mentions of a tower as part of the fortress can be found around 1265. It got its current form in the course of a renovation, which was completed in 1569 with the installation of a first clock with three large dials. Above the dials, a wooden battlement leads around the tower, from which the fire guards could see the whole city center. In 1712 he got another clock face on the north side, plus a new clockwork created by Michael Sylvester Funck. The new clock was accurate enough to be able to show minutes. Unlike what is common today, however, the hour hand is the larger hand, as it was more important to be able to read the hours correctly from a distance.
When Napoleon's troops besieged Graz in the Fifth Coalition War in 1809 , the clock tower was hit by one of the first bullets to be fired, but it was not seriously damaged. The Schlossberg was not conquered, but due to the armistice of Znojmo it fell into the hands of the enemy. The clock tower could, however, be bought by the citizens of Graz and was not razed like the rest of the fortress.
21st century
In 2003, when Graz was the “ European Capital of Culture ”, the clock tower was given a so-called “shadow”. This was a black twin tower made of steel, replicated to scale by the artist Markus Wilfling . The “clock tower shadow”, with which Wilfling “wanted to remind of the Nazi downside of Graz”, was sold to the Shoppingcity Seiersberg , a shopping center on the outskirts of Graz, after the end of the cultural capital year 2003 , where it has served as an attraction ever since. - After the purchase was completed, voices were heard in the media calling for the artifact to remain next to the Graz clock tower for an indefinite period. However, the city of Graz refused to buy back the clock tower and to leave it there because of foreseeable maintenance costs, but above all because of questions of liability for damage.
At the end of September 2008, the general renovation of the clock tower began. The soil moisture had massively damaged the masonry. The first renovation phase, the renovation of the wooden battlements, was completed in mid-2009 at a cost of around 500,000 euros. Around 115,000 euros were raised by a 900 m² advertising space stretched around the scaffolding. Two more phases were planned up to 2011. The clock tower was covered for the last time in November 2011 to renovate the dials and the clock hands.
Bells
Today three bells are still preserved in the tower: According to its inscription, the hour bell is the oldest bell in Graz (1382) and strikes every full hour. The fire bell of 1645 warned of fire in the various districts of Graz depending on the number of strikes. The bell of poor sinners from around 1450 rang for executions, in the 19th century at curfew , which also earned it the name of the rag bell .
Others
In the area of the exit to the rose garden at the foot of the clock tower , from which an extremely impressive view over Graz opens up, there is a small, listed memorial plaque on a wall for Gerold Walzel (1901–1988, from Villach , Austria ), the author of the Graz student song ("Träumend saw down from the Schlossberg, ...").
Below the clock tower, the stone dog watches over a wall ledge . According to a legend, a barking dog saved Kunigunde , the daughter of Emperor Friedrich III , in 1481 . , from being kidnapped by mercenaries of the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus , who had previously asked in vain for the princess's hand. In gratitude, Emperor Friedrich had the dog immortalized in the form of a statue.
- Picture gallery
Clock tower with "clock tower shadow" in January 2004
Clock tower shadow , Seiersberg near Graz, October 2005
It is 2:40 p.m.: The hour hand is longer , the shorter minute hand with quarter-hour scale was added later
Clock tower from the stairs to the Citizens' Bastion
Clock tower, seen from the Citizens' Bastion
Clock tower at night
Graz clock tower
Graz clock tower; in the background Graz to the south
“ Graz clock tower miniature ”, tactile model for the blind, visually impaired and children
literature
- Eva Tangl, Wolfgang Absenger: Graz clock tower: restoration and building research. In: Austrian magazine for art and monument preservation. Issue 3/4, Verlag Berger, Horn 2010 (= report booklet 2008/2009).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Leopold Toifl: The clock tower. The story of a landmark in Graz. (PDF) In: Zeitschrift des Historisches Verein für Steiermark, volume 99. 2008, pp. 183–219 , accessed on April 13, 2020 .
- ↑ Shadow object clock tower. The clock tower and its twin. Archive site www.graz03.at , accessed on July 15, 2010.
- ↑ Scrapping bonuses for art objects. derstandard.at , May 13, 2009, accessed on July 16, 2010.
- ↑ What was left of Graz 03? Kleine Zeitung , June 22, 2007, archived from the original on September 22, 2014 . .
- ↑ With patience and spit. (No longer available online.) Kleine Zeitung , January 25, 2010, archived from the original on October 29, 2013 . kleinezeitung.at , March 25, 2010, accessed on April 25, 2010.
- ↑ "Graz clock tower veiled for months". ( Memento from June 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) diepresse.com , September 30, 2008.
- ↑ Landmarks of Graz veiled and mutilated. Kleine Zeitung , November 6, 2011, archived from the original on October 29, 2013 . .
- ^ Graz student song in the portal of the Styrian Student Historian Association in Graz , accessed on July 15, 2010.
- ↑ Situation 2005
- ↑ The clock tower shadow of Erstaufstellungsortes was in the period after 2005 to a preliminary shopping center circle traffic island 280 meters west added. - Plain text in Seiersberg. kleinezeitung.at , March 10, 2010, accessed on July 16, 2010.
- ↑ Situation 2010
Coordinates: 47 ° 4 ′ 31.7 ″ N , 15 ° 26 ′ 12.3 ″ E