Jacquemart Clock of the Metzig

Built after 1583 for the butchers' guild, the Metzig of Molsheim embodies the Alsatian Renaissance style. Its iconic building features a façade adorned with a jacquemart clock dating from 1607.

The clock, whose maker remains unknown, consists of three dials: the central one shows the hours, the lower one the quarter hours, and the upper one the moon phases. Two automated statues, now made of stone (replaced in 1857), strike the bells every hour on the right and, formerly, every quarter hour on the left, although the latter mechanism no longer works today.

At the top of the turret, two cherubs decorate the pediment, while a niche houses a statue of the Virgin and Child. Between 1850 and 1924, the clock was often out of order before being repaired and restarted by the clockmaker Ganter in 1924. The dials were restored in 1983, then the original mechanism was dismantled in 1995 and replaced by an electronic system in 1998.