The Zytglogge, the mechanical heart of the city of Bern

A ticking sound has been heard in the middle of Bern’s Old Town for almost 500 years non-stop. It comes from the Zytglogge, a tower boasting one of the very few astronomical clocks in Europe that still works and is fully mechanical. “Feel the pulsations of the Zytglogge,” says Domenico Bernabei, inviting us to grasp one of the metal bars connected to the gigantic mechanical heart composed of gears, ropes and counterweights. With each tick, you can feel the bar shake. The Zytglogge, pronounced “tseet-glocker”, is a tower in the centre of the old city of Bern, at the mouth of Kramgasse, the first street around which the Swiss capital grew. The building is also the pride of the city, whose historic centre – including the Zytglogge – has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983. It is probably one of the few buildings on the list that you can pee on: the north wall has a urinal that has been in operation for over 100 years. This is certainly not the most important quirk associated ...