Le Temps brise les ailes de l'Amour.
Toile de Charles-Louis Landon (1760-1826).
Huiles sur Bois.

The time museum at Besançon was created through
the merging at the clockmaking collections at Besançon's Fine Arts Museum and
its Musum at History. Their Themes unite in a museum wich is more thoroughly
able to study the relationship between mankind and the measurement,
representation, and exploraton af time. The museum also preserves the technical
and industrial savoir faire embodied in clockmaking and its heritage.
The visitor is led through the corridors surronding the central
courtyard of Palais Granvelle beginning with an entirely historical section
about the town, the region, and its specialities ; and then continuing to a
level devoted solely to the measurement of time. This part traces the history
of time measurement from the dependancy upon natural phenomon to the
transformation to "artificial" time. The hour has been used from the
moment of this development, and since then we have become technologicaly,
economically, and socially dependant upon our ability to measure time.
Focusing on the 20th century, the second floor offers visitors a
thought-provoking study of time multiplication, the necessity for the
establishement of time zones and relativity. The exhibit follows the evolution
of clockmaking techniques from caesium electricity to electronics; Here the key
figures in the century are introduced from clockmakers to physicists and
engineers, including, of course, Einstein. The next room is dedicated to social
time, after which one is submerged in the complete absence of time. Finally,
the large attic of Palais Granvelle brings the visitor to the
conclusion of the tour. It serves as place of meditation and reflection, but
also a return to the city through the sound of its lively activity below.
The Time Museum
will be open to the public in part by the end of 1998.
© Sami BADAOUI, Franche-Comté Net,
Mars 1996