Clock Tower or Tour de l’Horloge, rebuilt in 1510, in Aix-en-Provence, France. The tower carries a “ban” bell in a 16th century decorative wrought-iron surround. This bell called the people to council or defence.
Aix-en-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France: flamboyant Gothic Clock Tower or Tour de l’Horloge, rebuilt in 1510 on the foundations of a Roman gate, in Place de l’Hôtel de Ville. Straddling the street on a Roman base of white limestone, the Clock Tower was originally gateway to the military post of Sextius and then to the Bourg Saint-Sauveur. It was rebuilt in its present form in 1510 when it was decorated with flamboyant pinnacles and ogees. By that time, the Clock Tower was already a symbol of the city’s municipal government and unity: after 1357, the meeting place of the city council, which had previously moved between different locations, was fixed at its feet. The Clock Tower carries a “ban” bell in a 16th century decorative wrought-iron surround. This bell called the people to council or defence. Today, the bell strikes the hours and the tocsin. The astronomical clock, added in 1661, is above wooden figures of the four seasons which appear in turn. Since 1801, a funerary urn dedicated to the spirits of the country’s defenders has replaced a bust of Louis XIII in its triumphal frame, which recalled a royal visit in 1622. An inscription commemorates the liberation of Aix in August 1944. The adjoining 17th century Italianate town hall, rebuilt from 1655 to 1660 and from 1665 to 1670, replaced a 14th century building which burnt down in 1536.
Size: 2550px × 3800px
Location: Aix-en-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, France
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: -built, 1357, 1500s, 1510, 16th, aix-en-provence, architecture, art, ban, base, bell, blue, cage, call, century, city, clock, council, , de, decorative, defence, feet, flamboyant, foot, foundations, france, french, gateway, gothic, government, green, hall, hourly, hours, iron, kerr, leaves, limestone, meeting, municipal, ogees, pinnacles, place, protection, provence-alpes-ôte, rebuilt, roman, sky, stone, strikes, summer, sunny, surround, symbol, terence, tocsin, tour, tower, town, unity, venue, ville, wrought, ’azur, ’horloge, ’ôtel
