The Corpus Clock

There's something truly wonderful about the Corpus Clock -- the mechanical clock that's recently been installed on the outside wall of the library at Corpus Christi college at Cambridge. Everything about it is extraordinary: the giant 'Chronophage' (time eater), which resembles a locus or grasshopper; that the sound of the clock striking the hour is caused by a chain hitting a small wooden coffin at the back of the clock and the fact that it only shows the correct time once every five minutes.

It cost £1m and took the its inventor, Dr John Taylor and a team of engineers and craftsmen five years to complete and, although it is undeniably a magnificent piece of construction, many people -- including Dr Taylor -- find there's something quite disturbing about the clock. That's not too surprising, considering it is a visual reminder of how time is relentlessly and irretrievably eaten away and that we have no control over it's passing. The clock -- and the menacing 'Chronophage' still look beautiful, though.