Le Défenseur du temps, Mechanical clock in Quartier de l'Horloge, Paris, France
Le Défenseur du temps is a 4-metre-high automaton clock mounted on a wall at 8 rue Bernard-de-Clairvaux in the Quartier de l'Horloge, 3rd arrondissement. Its gilded brass figures show a man on a rock with sword and shield facing a bird, a dragon and a crab; a golden sphere above bears a small figure, and a black plaque sits below.
French artist Jacques Monestier created this clock in 1979 for the newly developed Quartier de l'Horloge. It ran continuously until 2003 when funding for maintenance ran dry.
The warrior represents humanity in struggle against natural forces embodied by the three mechanical creatures. Visitors stop to watch the figures move and hear the sounds of their hourly battles.
The installation sits at a busy street corner near shops and restaurants, easily accessible on foot. The best times to watch the mechanisms move are during daylight and early evening hours.
The Quartier de l'Horloge takes its name from this clock, installed in 1979 in a district still under construction. The dragon's scales were hammered by Louis Desouches, and Alain Moirod built the steel structure. Stopped in 2003, the work was taken down in February 2022 and restored by the firm Prêtre et Fils at the initiative of artist Cyprien Gaillard, then restarted on 6 February 2023.
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