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The Zytturm is a 13th-century tower in
The astronomical clock on the eastern side of the tower was installed in 1574. Underneath the clockface, the calendar dial has four hands:
* The arrow indicates the day of the week on the inner ring of the dial, on which the days of the week are represented by their Germanic deities and astrological signs, with Sunday at the top.
* The crescent moon indicates the
The Zytturm is a 13th-century tower in Zug
Zug (Standard German: , Alemannic German: ; french: Zoug it, Zugo rm, Zug New Latin: ''Tugium'')named in the 16th century is the largest town and capital of the Swiss canton of Zug in Switzerland. Its name originates from the fishing vocabulary ...
, Switzerland, which houses an astronomical clock
An astronomical clock, horologium, or orloj is a clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the Sun, Moon, zodiacal constellations, and sometimes major planets.
Definition ...
. The tower, which is 52 metres high, is located on Kolinplatz in the old town centre.
The tower was constructed in the 13th century, then heightened between 1478 and 1480, taking its current form in 1557. The tower's last major renovation was in 1952. It is listed as being of National and Regional Significance, along with the city walls and other towers.
Astronomical clock
The astronomical clock on the eastern side of the tower was installed in 1574. Underneath the clockface, the calendar dial has four hands:
* The arrow indicates the day of the week on the inner ring of the dial, on which the days of the week are represented by their Germanic deities and astrological signs, with Sunday at the top.
* The crescent moon indicates the lunar phase
Concerning the lunar month of ~29.53 days as viewed from Earth, the lunar phase or Moon phase is the shape of the Moon's directly sunlit portion, which can be expressed quantitatively using areas or angles, or described qualitatively using the ...
, pointing upwards at the new moon and downwards at the full moon.
* The sun indicates the sign of the zodiac
The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north or south (as measured in celestial latitude) of the ecliptic, the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. The p ...
on the outer ring of the dial.
* The S hand indicates the 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) added to keep the calendar year synchronized with the astronomical year o ...
(''Schaltjahr'' in German), completing a cycle every four years, pointing downwards at the start of a leap year.
Above the clockface, a rotating moon ball indicates the lunar phase.
Canton shields
On the eastern side of the tower, below the clock, are displayed the coats of arms of the which comprised theOld Swiss Confederacy
The Old Swiss Confederacy or Swiss Confederacy ( Modern German: ; historically , after the Reformation also , "Confederation of the Swiss") was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or In the charters of the 14th century ...
from 1353 to 1481.
References
External links
* {{Astronomical clocks Clock towers in Switzerland Astronomical clocks in Switzerland Zug Buildings and structures in the canton of Zug