Hoher Markt and the Anker Clock
Why is it significant?
Look up at the bridge that connects two buildings on one side of the square, high above the street. On it sits a large Art Nouveau clock face, gilded and ornamented. Instead of hands pointing to the hour, figures slowly glide across it, one for each hour of the day.
Key Facts
| Place | Hoher Markt and the Anker Clock |
|---|---|
| Address | Hoher Markt 10-11, 1010 Wien, Austria |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.21080, 16.37310 |
| Part of Walk | Vienna's Old Town Lanes: Stephansdom, Roman Stones and Medieval Legends |
| Generated | Generated |
Look up at the bridge that connects two buildings on one side of the square, high above the street. On it sits a large Art Nouveau clock face, gilded and ornamented. Instead of hands pointing to the hour, figures slowly glide across it, one for each hour of the day.
This is the Anker Clock, made between 1911 and 1914 by the painter Franz Matsch for an insurance company, which is why it bears an anchor. Twelve historical figures cross it over the course of the day, beginning with the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and ending with the composer Joseph Haydn. At noon all of them parade together to music, and a small crowd gathers below with their phones in the air.
Marcus Aurelius opens the parade for a reason. Under your feet lay the heart of Vindobona, the Roman legionary camp on the Danube frontier. Remains of officers' houses, with their underfloor heating, were found below the square and can be seen in the small Roman Museum here. Marcus Aurelius campaigned along this frontier, and according to some ancient sources he died in Vindobona in the year 180, though others name a different camp.
In the Middle Ages Hoher Markt was the city's main marketplace, and also its place of punishment. The pillory stood here, and here criminals were exposed and executed in front of the crowds who had come to buy fish and cloth. Justice and shopping shared the same square.
In the middle of the square stands the Marriage Fountain, showing the wedding of Mary and Joseph under a canopy of bronze columns, built in the 1730s to designs by the Fischer von Erlach father and son, replacing an earlier wooden version vowed by Emperor Leopold I. It is a strange sight: a sacred wedding on a square where people once lost their heads. Now walk up Judengasse at the north-east corner to a small hill with an ivy-covered church.