The Ploiesti Clock Museum, Valea Prahovei

The Ploiesti Clock Museum - details and images

Since 1963, we find in Ploiești a very special museum, the Clock Museum. It was founded by Nicolae Simache and comprises a very wide variety of measuring instruments over the past 500 years. It is the only place in Romania where we can admire the craftsmanship and talent of the people who worked them.

The first instrument to measure time is the solar dial. To approximate the hour, the length of the shadow left on its surface was used. They were used only during the day, and were often used as decoration in gardens. In the prahovean museum we have some small solar dials, some of them from the 18th century.

In order to be able to measure time and night, the candle clock appeared. It was made from a special wax and was divided into 24 intervals. According to some opinions, the first candle clock was used by King Alfred of England.

Another device made for measuring time was the oil graded lamp. At the museum we find a lamp made in Germany. The first oil lamp was made in the 17th century by an Italian.

The double flashlight, to which we call the hourglass, is another means of measuring time. Some sandy beaches can be found in the fascinating museum of Ploiești.

Another mechanism is at the base of the water clock worked by Charles Rayner in 1654. It consists of two pools, and with the controlled flow of water, the indicator showing the time moves.

We have table clocks from Poland from the 1600s, from the Czech Republic from the 1700s, respectively from Germany from the 1900s, wall clocks, fireplaces, travel clocks from the 1800s, carriage clocks from England and Austria; the latter were carried by travelers on trips.

We reach even the bigger clocks. A salon pendulum in the Netherlands is noted for its generous dimensions. Two professional categories worked on these pendulums: the carpenters were the makers of the housing, and the watchmakers made the mechanism from the inside. At the top of the dial were often represented the phases of the moon, the season or other astronomical information.

If a normal clock came back daily, gyroscopic watches are the ones that go back to 365 days. The first watchmaker to do so was Gustav Becker from Germany.

Here we also find watches with the compensating pendulum (they contain mercury that expands depending on the room temperature), table clocks with musical device (from Austria), clocks with the mechanism mounted in glass, clocks with masonic symbols instead of figures, with astronomical dial, clocks indicating the hours in various capitals of the world, gold clocks, palm clocks, ladies' watches, even a clock lighter.

In the 1500s, the first pocket watch is made in Germany. Because it was egg-shaped, it was called the Nuremberg Egg. We have pocket watches from England, France, Switzerland. Some have double or triple housing to protect the mechanism.

The watches of the day were handmade pieces, expensive, not everyone and allowed. In the collection of the Clock Museum we find several clocks that belonged to personalities: the Baroque office clock that belonged to Mihail Kogălniceanu, a clock that belonged to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, a clock with the crowned monogram of King Mihai ; we also have a clock that belonged to Carol II, a clock of Vasile Alecsandri to which is attached a chain with a key and a gemstone, the table clock worked in Germany by Theodor Aman, the wall clock with a barometer, the founder of the museum, Nicolae Simache, the clock of Duiliu Zamfirescu, the wall clock of George Coșbuc, the clock of Nicolae Titulescu, the table clock with astronomical mechanism of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, with white marble cover; it has two dials, one with hourly digits and the other astronomical.

We can also admire a Swiss watch wallet, it opens and coins can be inserted inside, a key ring from France, a clock with anti-theft system from Germany (a watch with a chain is attached to the watch, four needles came out of the watch they warned the person of this fact), an urn with clock worked in porcelain for mythological reasons.

Very interesting are the German clock paintings, with the activity of a horseshoe. In this clock painting not only the objects in the scene are moving, they are heard. There are also some clock paintings, but also musical instruments from Austria.

You will enjoy the miniature table clocks, a wonderful potion clock (with the bells ringing), but also the musical boxes - they work with the clock mechanism.

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