World Clock
Alexanderplatz isn't one of Berlin's most beloved squares. While other areas of the city were being transformed after Germany's reunification, changes here were more modest so its surrounding architecture still reflects the 1960s socialist era. 'Alex' therefore suffers the reputation of being old-fashioned and run down.
But it's hard to imagine the largest urban square in Germany, with more than 10,000 people passing through every day, wouldn't be an interesting place to visit. It's a good spot for candid street photography. Berliners on their way to or from work mingle with tourists, shoppers and people just lounging around in the sun, drinking beers and eating currywurst. If you ever happen to be one of them, take a few minutes to check out the World Clock.
The World Clock became a feature of Alexanderplatz in 1969. Erich John based his design on the old 'Wettersäule' which were common in 19th century Germany - columns in public spaces containing a built in weather station and a clock. The remains of one was found on the current site during its redevelopment.
The main cylinder is divided into 24 sections representing the earth's time zones, each one inscribed with the names of cities in that zone. New locations, such as Cape Town, St. Petersburg and Jerusalem, places which were considered unidealistic during the socialist period, have been added to the original list.
A central ring displays the hours from 1 to 24 and rotates one revolution per day so the current time in each zone can be read. The driving mechanism is a gearbox taken from an old Trabant and housed underneath. All very clever but the clock doesn't appear to take into account daylight savings time. For half the year it's an hour slow!
On top of the cylinder is an intricate representation of the solar system which revolves once a minute. Whenever I'm taking a closeup photo of the clock, I try to get a nice alignment of the planets so they can all be seen.
But rather than used to see what time it is in Irkutsk, the clock functions mostly as a meeting place. At virtually any time of the day someone will be standing under the cylinder, texting their overdue date... 'I'm at the World Clock, where are you?'
Make sure you're not late if you're meeting someone there at midnight and you want good omens for your relationship. Legend says that a couple holding hands under the clock at 00:00 will never separate.
