Von Mythen und Legenden

Watches represent their time of origin: they are witnesses of time, craftsmanship, mechanics and science in perfect unity.

- Andreas Ernst

This fascination with pendulum clocks is palpable in the Andreas Ernst collection. With an exquisite selection of antique pendulums from the 18th and early 19th centuries, it provides the interested public with deep insights into their function as clocks, but also into their art and cultural-historical contexts.

One focus of the collection of around 70 clocks is the development of the Pendule Religieuse. But French bronze pendulums as well as some skeleton and grandfather clocks complete the collection.

Current exhibition: "Of myths and stories".

Since ancient times, myths and stories have been passed down from generation to generation, both orally and in writing. They help in understanding the world, structuring and classifying it, as well as forming one's own opinion. They tell of people's feelings such as love, hope, but also of chaos and war. Each generation invokes them or even creates new ones. However, their dissemination took place not only in literature, but in all kinds of arts and crafts.

Thus, the French bronze pendulums in our current exhibition "Of Myths and Stories" also bear witness to this phenomenon. All created in the early 19th century, they invoke Greek and Roman antiquity. To the people of that time, the stories from the time of the gods and heroes were well known and each group of motifs had its very own meaning. Thus, already in the selection of the depicted myth was determined what function and mood the pendulum should once achieve and evoke. However, it can only have this effect if the viewer is able to read the story. We want to bring this back to life in the exhibition and thus give visitors access to the clocks.


Note: This text was translated by machine translation software and not by a human translator. It may contain translation errors.