Clock Tower

The Clock Tower, or Tower of the Moors, is located in Piazza San Marco, Venice.

The tower was built in the 15th century in the Renaissance style. The building has an arch that leads to the commercial part of Venice. Above the arch is a clock dial of gold and blue enamel. Above the clock, in a niche, there is a statue of the Virgin, and above it is a Venetian winged lion. On the roof stands a bell and figures of Moors.

The clock of the tower is astronomical, it is possible to recognize the hour, the time of year, the lunar phase, the transition of the Sun into the constellations. Two dark bronze figures, which were nicknamed the Moors, beat the time. One Moor, representing the past, strikes the bell five minutes before the hour, and the second, representing the future, five minutes after. The additional mechanism of the clock is launched, according to tradition, on the Epiphany: the carousel begins to spin and the figures of the Magi leave.