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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Astronomical clock · Italy (Padua)

Giovanni de' Dondi's Astrarium (original)

Partially verified

A seven-faced planetary clock described in de' Dondi's detailed manuscript; the original is lost, and the surviving knowledge comes from the manuscript and modern reconstructions.

Technical facts

Survival
Original lost; manuscripts survive

Historical significance

  • A seven-faced planetary clock described in de' Dondi's detailed manuscript; the original is lost, and the surviving knowledge comes from the manuscript and modern reconstructions.

Diagram

date ring, thirty-one positionsdate aperturedriving wheel and jumper
Schematic: calendar work under the dial. An outline schematic drawn to show the arrangement of the parts discussed here. It is not a dimensioned working drawing and does not depict a particular maker's calibre.

Sources & references

  1. de' Dondi, G., Tractatus astrarii (manuscript)
  2. Smithsonian Institution, reconstruction records

Where sources disagree, the disagreement is stated rather than resolved silently.