Tower Clock Museum (Gdansk)

St. Catherine's Church, separate entrance to the tower clock museum to the right of the main entrance

The Tower Clock Museum in Gdansk contains a collection of historical clocks from the 15th to the 20th century and is located in the tower of the Church of St. Catherine . Based on an agreement between the Historical Museum of the City of Gdansk and the Order of the Carmelites, the museum was established in 1996 and is part of the City's Historical Museum.

The museum collects and renovates clockworks of significant craftsmanship that are no longer used in the places where they were intended. Numerous mechanical clockworks are on display, mainly from Gdansk from the 17th and 18th centuries.

On the occasion of the 400th birthday of the astronomer Johannes Hevelius , a pulsar clock was put into operation in the church on November 25, 2011. It receives the signals from six pulsars and has ten times the accuracy of an atomic clock . The pulsar clock signals are received by 16 antennas installed on the roof of St. Catherine's Church

In 2016, a pendulum clock was installed in the church tower , which at 31.22 meters has the longest pendulum in the world.

The museum also includes the church's carillon , which consists of 50 bells and can be played using a mechanical keyboard. The largest bell weighs just under three tons.

Interior views

Tower clock museum
Pendulum clock
Historical clockwork
Museum section under the church's gable roof, which was renewed in 2008.
Display of the pulsar clock (saddle roof section of the church)
View from the church tower: The 16 antennas of the pulsar clock between the rear gable roofs of the church.