Mengenlehreuhr, Public clock at Budapester Straße, Germany
The Mengenlehreuhr is a public clock on Budapester Straße that displays time through five rows of colored lights arranged on its rectangular frame. Each row serves a different function: red lights for hours, a mix of yellow and red for five-minute increments, and yellow lights for single minutes.
Inventor Dieter Binninger created this clock in 1975 as an innovative experiment to display time in a completely new way. It was initially placed elsewhere in the city and has been located at its current site next to Europa-Center since 1995.
The clock displays time through colored lights and is often seen as a symbol of Berlin's connection to innovation and precision. Visitors stop to watch the play of lights and experience a completely different way of reading hours and minutes.
The clock is located near Zoologischer Garten station and is easy to find, as it sits on a busy street with clear signage. It helps to spend a couple of minutes watching the lights, especially as dusk falls, when the colors become more visible.
Many visitors don't know that the clock was originally conceived by Dieter Binninger as a teaching model to explain mathematical concepts. The system later became famous and is now a symbol of creative thinking in urban design.
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