The Millennium Clock was a six-ton installation designed by Grainne Hassett and Vincent Ducatez to celebrate the passing of the millennium, sponsored by the National Lottery. It took the form of a digital

seven-segment display A seven-segment display is a form of electronic display device for displaying decimal numerals that is an alternative to the more complex dot matrix displays. Seven-segment displays are widely used in digital clocks, electronic meters, basic ...

counting down the number of seconds to the year 2000 submerged under the surface of the

River Liffey The River Liffey (Irish: ''An Life'', historically ''An Ruirthe(a)ch'') is a river in eastern Ireland that ultimately flows through the centre of Dublin to its mouth within Dublin Bay. Its major tributaries include the River Dodder, the River ...

on the west side of

O'Connell Bridge O'Connell Bridge () is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland, which joins O'Connell Street to D'Olier Street, Westmoreland Street and the south quays. History The original bridge (named ''Carlisle Bridge'' for the then ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

city centre. It was turned on in March 1996 but suffered from technical problems, including becoming obscured by mud and algae. It was ultimately removed in December of the same year. These issues resulted in the clock being referred to as the "Time in the Slime" or the "Chime in the Slime".

History

The Dublin-based architects, Hassett and Ducatez, won the competition called "Countdown 2000" to design the clock in 1994. They won £10,000 for the design. A ceremony featuring a fireworks display and led by the then Minister for Finance

Ruairi Quinn Ruairi Quinn (born 2 April 1946) is an Irish former Labour Party politician who served as Minister for Education and Skills from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 1997 to 2002, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1989 to 1997, ...

marking the switching on of the clock was broadcast on RTE's The Late Late Show on Friday, 15 March 1996. The finished clock was 1.9 metres deep and 7.8 metres wide. It was temporarily removed three days later to facilitate boat races. The clock cost £250,000 to construct, with an additional £58,000 spent on repairs, installation and removal. During this period, when the clock was operational the countdown displayed was sometimes incorrect. The clock was finally removed in August 1996 for the annual Liffey swim and was removed completely in December 1996. The clock, which was damaged beyond repair, was broken up and sold for scrap. A postcard dispenser machine was installed on the bridge as part of the installation which printed the number of seconds to the millennium on a postcard at a cost of 20p. It sold between 600-700 postcards per day in the five months of operation generating £17,000. An additional feature was a set of speakers which would play recorded noises of Dublin city at 30 second intervals. The removal of the clock left a space in the bridge parapet where its control box had been. In 2004, pranksters took advantage of the space by installing a commemorative plaque memorialising the totally fictitious "

Father Pat Noise The Fr. Pat Noise plaque is a hoax commemorative plaque installed by two brothers on the balustrade of O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. It is about a fictitious Priesthood (Catholic Church), Roman Catholic priest name ...

References

External links

Do You Remember The Countdown Clock In The Liffey, Back In The 1990s?!
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Documentary on One The ''RTÉ Documentary on One'', or ''Doc on One'', is an anthology documentary radio series broadcast by Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann's Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a musi ...

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A Man Out of TimeRTE: The Time In The Slime 1996
{{coord, 53.347171, -6.259616, display=title 1996 sculptures Culture in Dublin (city) Installation art Monuments and memorials in the Republic of Ireland 1996 establishments in Ireland 1996 disestablishments in Ireland