Le Défenseur du Temps (''The Defender of Time'') is a large mechanical work of art in the form of a clock created by the French artist Jacques Monestier.

Description

''Le Défenseur du Temps'' is a clock made of

automata An automaton (; plural: automata or automatons) is a relatively self-operating machine, or control mechanism designed to automatically follow a sequence of operations, or respond to predetermined instructions.Automaton – Definition and More ...

. Close to the dial, a man perched on a rock with a sword and shield fights against a bird, a dragon, and a crab which respectively represent air, earth, and water. As originally designed, every hour from 9 am to 10 pm, he fights one of the three animals chosen randomly by a program. At noon, 6 pm, and 10pm, all three animals attack at the same time. The time is announced by three strokes. While the man fights, he is accompanied by sounds of breaking waves, rumbling earth or the sound of wind, depending on the animal chosen. ''Le Défenseur du temps'' is 4 meters high and weighs about 1 ton. The characters, animals and the clock face are hammered brass and gold leaf. The rock on which they sit is composed of oxidized brass. In its original configuration, a master electronic quartz circuit board controlled the random attacks chance, and used six cam timers and five tape recorders.

Location

''Le Défenseur du temps'' is located at 8 rue Bernard de Clairvaux, in the Quartier de l'Horloge in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

' 3rd arrondissement. The area around the clock owes its name to this work.

History

''Le Défenseur du temps'' was commissioned in 1975 by COGEDIM. The scales of the dragon were made by Louis Desouches, and the construction of the steel structure was by Alain Moirod. The clock was partially installed in September 1979. It was formally dedicated on 8 October 1979 by the Mayor of Paris, Jacques Chirac. The clock underwent restoration in 1995. The master clock's quartz crystal was replaced by a radio clock, and the tape recorders were replaced by a

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player. Without funding for maintenance, the clock has been stopped since July 1, 2003. In February 2022, the clock was taken down and the restoration of the clock has begun to take place. The Defenseur Du Temps should be fixed and reinstalled by March 2023.

External links

Conception et réalisation du "Défenseur du Temps"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Defenseur Buildings and structures in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris Tourist attractions in Paris Clocks in France