Zimmer tower

Geschiedenis

The Zimmer tower is a tower in Lier, Belgium, also known as the Cornelius tower, that was originally a keep of Lier's fourteenth century city fortifications. In 1930, astronomer and clockmaker Louis Zimmer built the Jubilee Clock, which is displayed on the front of the tower.The tower was built no later than 1425 though the precise date of construction is unknown. In 1812 the tower was sold by the municipal authorities, but after World War I, they repurchased it and slated it for demolition. However, in 1928 clockmaker Louis Zimmer presented to the city, his work, the anniversary, which consists of 12 clocks encircling a central one with 57 dials. These clocks showed time on all continents, phases of the moons, times of tides and many other periodic phenomena. It was decided to place this new design in the old tower, which had to be substantially reconstructed for this. In honor of the astronomer they renamed the tower the Zimmer tower.In 1960 a pavilion for the new clock was built next to the tower to present Zimmer's masterpiece the wonder-clock. . Around one of these dials moves the slowest pointer in the world - its complete revolution will take 25800 years, which corresponds to the period of the precession of the Earth's axis. Subsequently Zimmer attached to the clocks a mechanical planetarium. The wonder-clocks impressed Albert Einstein, who congratulated Zimmer with the creation of these unusual mechanisms.