An automated bronze figure strikes the hours on the medieval Maurizio Tower (Torre di Maurizio) in the Piazza del Duomo in Orvieto, Umbria, Italy. This mechanical clock, completed in 1348, was the first of this type documented in Europe. It was commissioned by the Opera del Duomo (workshop of Orvieto Cathedral) to control workers on the cathedral’s construction site. The clock’s original name was ‘ariologium de muriccio’, construction site clock. The bronze bell striker depicts an officer of the Opera del Duomo, a Dottiere.
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’, 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 feet 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.
Size: 4142px × 2756px
Location: Maurizio Tower, Piazza del Duomo, Orvieto, Umbria, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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