Monday, February 24, 2014

A 1000 year old cathedral and its authentic time-machine

Together with 700 000 other visitors will do this year, you can take a guided tour of the Lund Cathedral now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2zDnGI9Q8Q#t=59

Lund Cathedral was consecrated in 1145, and contains many well-known artefacts and features of considerable historical interest.

The building of the Cathedral actually began some 65 years earlier in 1080. Its first Archbishop, Ascer, consecrated the high alter in the Crypt in 1123; and his successor, Archbishop Eskil, then consecrated the main cathedral building in 1145.

Among the Cathedral´s many attractions, there is the magnificent horological artistic masterpiece, Horologium mirabil Lundense. This early time and dating machine is still in working order with it rotating mechanical figures marking the passage of time. 

Horologium mirabil Lundense

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQsXP8NnYc8


The astronomical clock was constructed c. 1380. After having been in storage since 1837, it was restored and put back in place in 1923.

On top of the clock there are two knights that mark the hours. The upper board of the clock is the astronomical clock. It shows, among other things, the different phases of the Moon and where the Sun sets.

The lower board of the clock is a calendar. With the help of it one can, among other things, calculate when different mobile religious holidays will fall and on which weekday a certain date will fall. In the middle of the calendar stands Saint Lawrence, the Patron Saint of the Cathedral, and by his side the Symbols of the Four Evangelists. The present board of the clock goes from 1923 to 2123, after that a new one must be obtained so that the clock can be used.