The Timewheel ( hu, Időkerék) is a large
hourglass
An hourglass (or sandglass, sand timer, sand clock or egg timer) is a device used to measure the passage of time. It comprises two glass bulbs connected vertically by a narrow neck that allows a regulated flow of a substance (historically sand) ...
, situated in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
next to
City Park, right of
Heroes' Square and behind the
Palace of Art (''Műcsarnok''), on the site of a former
statue of Lenin
This article is a list of current and former known monuments of Vladimir Lenin. Many of the monuments in former Soviet republics and satellites were removed after the fall of the Soviet Union, while some of these countries retained the thousands o ...
that now stands in
Memento Park
Memento Park (Hungarian: ''Szoborpark'') is an open-air museum in Budapest, Hungary, dedicated to monumental statues and sculpted plaques from People's Republic of Hungary, Hungary's Communist period (1949–1989). There are statues of Vladimir Le ...
. It is made of granite, steel, and glass, and weighs 60 tons. The sand, which consists of glass granules, flows from the upper to the lower glass chamber over the course of one year.
The sand runs out on
New Year's Eve
In the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Eve, also known as Old Year's Day or Saint Sylvester's Day in many countries, is the evening or the entire day of the last day of the year, on 31 December. The last day of the year is commonly referred to ...
and the Timewheel is then turned 180 degrees so the flow of the sand can resume for the next year. The turning is accomplished by four people pulling cables, and takes roughly 45 minutes to complete. The Timewheel was unveiled on 1 May 2004 to commemorate the historic
enlargement of the European Union that
admitted Hungary (along with nine other countries) to the
EU.
János Herner designed and built the Timewheel after an architectural design done by István Janáky.
See also
*
List of largest hourglasses
References
{{coord, 47, 30, 46.05, N, 19, 4, 48.98, E, region:HU_type:landmark, display=title
Buildings and structures in Budapest
Tourist attractions in Budapest
Hourglasses