The Defender of Time
The Defender of Time is an animated work by French artist Jacques Monestier, installed at 8 rue Bernard-de-Clairvaux in Paris’s Horloge district. Commissioned by the property company Cogedim, it was inaugurated by Jacques Chirac in 1979. The sculpture was later restored in 1998, but maintenance problems led to its shutdown in 2003. After renewed efforts led by Cyprien Gaillard, it was restored again, presented at Lafayette Anticipations during the DUMPTY exhibition, and then reinstalled at its original location. The work was restarted there in 2024, returning to Monestier’s original settings.
July 2010 © zoetnet · CC BY 2.0
July 2010 © zoetnet · CC BY 2.0
July 2010 © zoetnet · CC BY 2.0
January 2008 © Danielbaise · CC BY-SA 4.0
© Benoît Prieur · CC0
Identification | |
| Title | Le Défenseur du temps |
| Literal translation | The Defender of Time |
| Italian title | Il Difensore del Tempo |
| Type | Animated artwork / automaton clock |
Creator | |
| Artist | Jacques Monestier |
| Artist nationality | French |
| Commissioned by | COGEDIM |
| Commission year | 1975 |
| Contributors | Louis Desouches (dragon scales) and Alain Moirod (steel structure) |
Location and ownership | |
| Original location | 8 rue Bernard-de-Clairvaux, Quartier de l’Horloge, 3rd arrondissement, Paris, France |
| Nearby landmark | Near the Centre Georges Pompidou |
| Naming influence | The surrounding neighborhood takes its name from this work |
Historical context | |
| Installation status | Installed in September 1979; formally dedicated on 8 October 1979 by Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris |
| Installation condition | Originally installed incomplete |
| Installation site | A neighborhood that was still unfinished at the time |
Physical characteristics | |
| Height | 4 meters |
| Weight | About 1 ton |
Materials | |
| Main materials | Worked, hammered, or fire-gilded brass with gold leaf; oxidized brass for the rock backdrop |
Technique | |
| Mechanism | Automaton clock with a random selector, six cam programmers, five tape recorders, and an electronic quartz master clock originally; later revised to use a radio-controlled clock and CD player |
| Operation schedule | Every hour from 9:00 to 22:00, the man fights one of the three animals chosen at random; at 12:00, 18:00, and 22:00, all three animals attack simultaneously |
| Time signal | The hour is announced by three chimes or strikes |
| Accompanying sounds | Sounds of waves, earth rumbling, or wind blowing, depending on the animal chosen |
Appearance | |
| Depicted figure | A man standing on a rock, armed with a sword and shield |
| Animals depicted | A bird, a dragon, and a crab |
Iconography and meaning | |
| Symbolism of animals | The bird represents air or the sky, the dragon represents earth, and the crab represents water or the sea |
History and restoration | |
| Restoration | Restored in 1995 and in 2003 |
| Shutdown | Stopped on 1 January 2003, or 1 July 2003, due to lack of maintenance funding |
| Removal for restoration | Taken down in February 2022 |
| Temporary exhibition | Installed at Lafayette Anticipations for the exhibition DUMPTY / Humpty-Dumpty in 2021–2022, where the combats were adjusted to occur every quarter hour |
| Return and restart | Reinstalled at the original location in 2022 and restarted on 1 January 2023 or 6 February 2023; returned to its original settings as imagined by Jacques Monestier |