- Unique in the network of museums in Romania, the Clock Museum opened its doors in 1963, in a hall of the Palace of Culture in Ploiesti city from Prahova county, with the help of Professor Nicolae Simache, director of the Museum of History between 1954 and 1971.
The collection of watches was brought from a building built in the late nineteenth century, which belonged to Luca Elefterescu, known conservative politician in the first decades of the twentieth century and for several times prefect of Prahova county. Those who cross the threshold of the museum have the opportunity to monitor the time measuring means, from the first clocks - solar clocks, watches burner clocks, with water (water clock sketch taken from d `Horologerie Ancienne) or with sand - up to mechanical clocks "ancient" and also modern.
All the wonderful works are often not only the work of famous master watchmakers, but art and people who contributed to their presentation as attractive as possible, creating true styles.
Among the oldest pieces in the collection are: Tabernacle pendulum type and the Renaissance ones, made in gilt bronze, engraved or cut, sometimes with enamel dials.
The oldest clock, dated 1562, attests, moreover, the combining preocupations for the time calculation with astronomy, being fitted with astronomical dials.
Among the exhibits of great price in the museum's collection it's fair to remember the pendulums in Louis XIV style, with long and rich cabinet carved bronze decorations, or exotic veneer. The symbols are not missing: the sun, the child with hourglass in hand, the time. The metal dial is decorated with plates and engraved figures.
Rococo style is evidenced by several pieces: one of them was executed at Brulfer watchmaker company in Paris in the eighteenth century, with a wooden frame, painted. Another piece, small, molded in brass foil, is decorated with polychrome painting, reproducing a gallant scene.
Among the style watches a piece of great beauty, rocaille- a swing of pedestal - with a tall cabinet supple decoration in gilded bronze and marble distinguishes through the exhibits. The work is signed by French artists of the eighteenth century and was made at the request of a limited partner from Vienna, Austria, August Klein, whose name is mentioned on the dial.
The home swing of Louis XVI is another type of clock that can be recognized in the halls of the museum. It brings a touch of refinement that has occurred in the artistic taste in the second half of the eighteenth century.
Most times, this style combines elements of other ornaments belonging to different styles, making that composite so characteristic to the nineteenth century.
The begining of this century will require a new artistic style - Empire. Saloon pendulums made in this manner are distinguished by female plastic figures, refinement and artistic composition.
Empire clocks were made at the tenacious order of Romanian citizens besides from abroad firms. Thus, Schuller watchmaker in Brasov got a watch for advertising, realised in this style. The pendulum, in a form of pound, enriches the beautiful orations. The piece, provided with a musical mechanism, is a great attraction for visitors.
Presentation of Nicolae Simache collection would not be complete without remembering some things about the clocks mounted in pictures or the pictures with clock attributes of the Biedermeier style.
At the Clock Museum in Ploiesti the clocks can be admired in a popular manner, some with simple or double sound, with flute singers, other monuments, with a rich decorative load, dating from the XVIII and XIX century.
The popular and influential clocks are those in straight boxes on wall, worked by turning. Some are made in Romania, being provided with mechanisms of German or Austrian origin.
Foto: estiri.ro
