| Clock Tower | |
|---|---|
Torre dell'Orologio | |
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| General information | |
| Status | In use |
| Architectural style | Renaissance |
| Location | Piazza della Loggia |
| Town or city | Brescia |
| Country | Italy |
| Construction started | 1540-1550 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Ludovico Beretta |
The Torre dell'Orologio (English: Clock Tower) is a 16th-century building located in the Piazza della Loggia in Brescia, northern Italy.
The tower was constructed between 1540 and 1550 to the design of Ludovico Beretta, a Brescian architect and one of the designers of the Palazzo della Loggia. In 1543 the present clock replaced the one built in the previous century. [1] It houses a complex astronomical clock installed by Paolo Gennari from Rezzato between 1544 and 1546. [2] The clock-face was realised by Gian Giacomo Lamberti in 1547, while the automatons, the Macc de le ure, were installed in 1581. [3]
The chapter ring of the dial is divided into twenty-four hours. The hour hand, which carries a golden sun, indicates the hour, and the Sun's position in the zodiac and the date on a ring inside the chapter ring. The centre of the dial shows the age and phase of the Moon, with lines indicating astrological aspects.
The clock visibly predates the Gregorian calendar reform in 1582 that suppressed ten days of the previous calendar: the position of the spring equinox is set to 11 March instead of 21 March. [4]
Above the dial is a painted fresco of Saturn or Chronos, the personification of time. [5]
The tower is topped with a bronze bell, which has engravings depicting the Madonna and Child, Christ crucified, the Patron saints, the lion rampant, the patrons Faustino and Giovita and the coat of arms of the creator Nicola Cattaneo. [3] The two copper jacquemarts, which are driven by the clock mechanism and strike the hours, were installed in 1581. [6] In Brescian dialect they are known as the "Màcc de le ure" (the madmen of the hours) or "Tone and Batista", a nickname acquired following the French Revolution.
The clock's main dial and its tympanum were painted by Gian Giacomo Lamberti in 1547. A second dial, at the back of the tower overlooking the Via Beccaria, indicates only the hour. Its designer is unidentified. [2]
In 1595 the Brescian architect Piermaria Bagnadore built a long portico in white stone. Afterwards, the passage underneath the tower, connecting the Piazza della Loggia with the Via Beccaria and the Piazza Paolo VI, was constructed by Lodovico Beretta in 1554. [2]
Salò is a town and comune in the Province of Brescia in the region of Lombardy on the banks of Lake Garda, on which it has the longest promenade. The city was the seat of government of the Italian Social Republic from 1943 to 1945, a state often referred to as the "Salò Republic".
An astronomical clock, horologium, or orloj is a clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the Sun, Moon, zodiacal constellations, and sometimes major planets.
Montisi is an Italian village in the municipality of Montalcino, Province of Siena, Tuscany. It sits on a hill on the boundary between the Val d'Orcia and the Crete Senesi.
Gasparo Cairano, also known as Gasparo da Cairano, de Cayrano, da Milano, Coirano, and other variations, was an Italian Renaissance sculptor.
Antonio della Porta, better known as Tamagnino was an Italian sculptor of the Renaissance.
Brescia is a city and comune (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. With a population of more than 200,000, it is the second largest city in Lombardy and the fourth largest in northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 672,822, while over 1.5 million people live in its metropolitan area. The city is the administrative capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy, with over 1,200,000 inhabitants.
Palazzo della Loggia is a Renaissance palace situated in the eponymous piazza in Brescia.
The Caprioli Adoration is an Italian Renaissance sculpture, a relief in marble by Gasparo Cairano, dated between 1495 and 1500, placed in the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Brescia as a frontal for the high altar.
The Mirandola Town Hall is a historic public building located in the city center of Mirandola, in the province of Modena, Italy.
The Torre dell'Orologio is a 15th-century renaissance tower on the Piazza delle Erbe in Mantua, Italy. It is attached to the Palazzo della Ragione, and next to the Rotonda di San Lorenzo. It houses an astronomical clock.
Maffeo Olivieri was an Italian sculptor and wood carver. Often associated with his younger brother Andrea, he was active in Lombardy, Venice and Trentino. He was known for his bronze, wood and marble creations, and considered the premier sculptor in early sixteenth century Brescia.
The Ark of Sant'Apollonio is a funerary monument in marble by Gasparo Cairano. Dated between 1508 and 1510, it is located in the third chapel on the right of the southern nave of the New Cathedral, Brescia.
The Ark of San Tiziano is a marble tomb attributed to the Sanmicheli studio. Finished in 1505, it is located in the Church of the Saints Cosma and Damiano in Brescia, in the chapel dedicated to these saints.
The Altar of San Girolamo is a sculptural complex in marble, around 780×450×80cm in dimension, designed and constructed by Gasparo Cairano and Antonio Medaglia, and situated within the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Brescia, Italy. Dated between 1506–1510, it is located in the first chapel on the right side of the nave.
LudovicoBeretta was an Italian architect of the Brescian renaissance. His work is considered emblematic of the development of the Renaissance architectural paradigm in the middle of the sixteenth century.
Characteristic of the historic center of Pavia is the presence of medieval noble towers that survive in its urban fabric, despite having once been more numerous, as evidenced by the sixteenth-century representation of the city frescoed in the church of San Teodoro. They were mostly built between the 11th and 13th centuries when the Ghibelline city was at the height of its Romanesque flowering.
The Bergamasque and Brescian Renaissance is one of the main variations of Renaissance art in Italy. The importance of the two cities on the art scene only expanded from the 16th century onward, when foreign and local artists gave rise to an original synthesis of Lombard and Venetian modes, due in part to the two cities' particular geographical position: the last outpost of the Serenissima on the mainland for Bergamo and a disputed territory between Milan and Venice for Brescia.
Brescian Renaissance sculpture was an important offshoot of Renaissance sculpture developed in Brescia from around the 1460s within the framework of Venetian culture, peaking between the end of the century and the beginning of the next. In this period, a series of public and private worksites were able to produce absolutely original works, ranging from the refined and experimental sculptural style of the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli to the regular classicism of the Palazzo della Loggia.
Piazza della Loggia, or more simply Piazza Loggia, also known as Piazza Grande or Piazza Vecchia, is one of Brescia's main squares, a symbolic place of the Brescian Renaissance and Venetian rule over Brescia.
45°32′23″N10°13′14″E / 45.53976°N 10.22066°E
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