Michelangelo Sapiano (March 19, 1826 – December 2, 1912) was a

Maltese Maltese may refer to: * Someone or something of, from, or related to Malta * Maltese alphabet * Maltese cuisine * Maltese culture * Maltese language, the Semitic language spoken by Maltese people * Maltese people, people from Malta or of Maltese ...

clock maker and inventor born in

Mqabba Mqabba () is a town in the Western Region of Malta. It has a traditional Maltese village layout, with a population of about 3,339 inhabitants, as of January 2019. The focal point is the Parish Church of the Assumption, found at the core of the v ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

Early life

Michelangelo Sapiano was born in Mqabba in 1826, the son of Baskal and Tereża née Agius. When he was 14 years of age he opened a

watch A watch is a timepiece carried or worn by a person. It is designed to maintain a consistent movement despite the motions caused by the person's activities. A wristwatch is worn around the wrist, attached by a watch strap or another type of ...

repair shop and at such a young age he managed to repair the

Parish Church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

clock at Mqabba. Sapiano learned how to be a horologist from Giananton Tanti of Marsa, who was also a skilled blacksmith. Tanti's clocks include those at the parish churches of Qrendi and Tarxien. He left Mqabba for

Luqa Luqa ( , ) is a town located in the Southern Region of Malta, 4.3 km away from the capital Valletta. With a population of 5,945 as of March 2014, it is a small but densely populated settlement which is typical of Malta's older towns and vi ...

when he was 21 years old, soon after he married Mikelina Mifsud in 1847. His wife died a few years later and in 1857 married Marianna Mifsud, who was Mikelina's sister.

Achievements

Sapiano is best known for large clocks that were built for churches,

convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

s and

sacristies A sacristy, also known as a vestry or preparation room, is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments (such as the alb and chasuble) and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records. The sacristy is usually located ...

in various towns and villages in Malta and

Gozo Gozo ( ), known in classical antiquity, antiquity as Gaulos, is an island in the Malta#The Maltese archipelago, Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Republic of Malta. After the Malta Island, island of Malta ...

. He also known for a large clock he made for the Church of

Saint Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria, also spelled Katherine, was, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, who was martyred in the early 4th century at the hands of the emperor Maxentius. According to her hagiography, she was both a princess a ...

in Egypt. His masterpiece is a

grandfather clock A grandfather clock (also a longcase clock, tall-case clock, grandfather's clock, hall clock or floor clock) is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock, with the pendulum held inside the tower or waist of the case. Clocks of this styl ...

which till a few years ago could be found in No.11, Pawlu Magri Street, Luqa, which is the house where Sapiano used to live as a married man. The clock can now be found in the Mdina Cathedral Museum. For this clock he was awarded the Silver Medal in the Maltese Industry Exhibition of 1864. Apart from showing the time, days and date this clock also shows the

phases of the moon A lunar phase or Moon phase is the apparent shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion as viewed from the Earth. Because the Moon is Tidal locking, tidally locked with the Earth, the same Hemisphere (geometry), hemisphere is always facing the ...

and the time at which the sun rises and goes down. This clock also has a mechanism which marks when a year is a

leap year A leap year (also known as an intercalary year or bissextile year) is a calendar year that contains an additional day (or, in the case of a lunisolar calendar, a month) compared to a common year. The 366th day (or 13th month) is added to keep t ...

. Sapiano made other precision instruments, including a weighing machine for the Malta Customs, which could take weights from 700 lbs down to a fraction of an ounce. For his wife he made a mechanical

egg timer An egg timer or kitchen timer is a device whose primary function is to assist in timing during cooking; the name comes from the first timers initially being used for the timing of cooking eggs. Early designs simply counted down for a specific p ...

with a bell, and to know the time at night he devised a

mantel clock Mantel clocks—or shelf clocks—are relatively small house clocks traditionally placed on the shelf, or mantel, above the fireplace. The form, first developed in France in the 1750s, can be distinguished from earlier chamber clocks of simi ...

to which a long string was attached which would chime the most recent time when pulled in the darkness. Sapiano was awarded the gold medal by the Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce on the 26 February 1908. He died on 2 December 1912.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sapiano, Michelangelo Maltese artisans 1826 births 1912 deaths Maltese clockmakers People from Mqabba Crown Colony of Malta people