Ankeruhr, Vienna

Ankeruhr is a large musical clock built as a bridge between the buildings of Ankerhof. Its clock face measures four metres across, while the bridge reaches ten metres in span and seven and a half metres in height. Franz Matsch created its artistic design, and the clock began as a project of the Anker insurance company in 1911.

Notice the sculpted supports beneath the bridge: Adam and Eve appear on the visible front, while angels and a devil decorate the reverse. Above the dial, a sun disc is paired with a child carrying a butterfly and an hourglass, expressing life and death. The background is a mosaic of glass, metal and marble, with heraldic emblems surrounding Vienna’s old coat of arms. At noon, all twelve figure groups pass across the clock with music; the mechanism now uses recorded sound rather than its original organ.