1 igure 2. — Portrait of Father Francesco Borghesi, 

 inventor and designer of the astronomical clock in the 

 Museum ol History and Technology. 



earliest was Father Philipp Matthaus Hahn (1739- 

 17'Mii ol Wiirttcmberg. 4 Father Hahn considered the 

 equation of time as only one part of a plan to represent 

 astronomical occurrences by means of clockwork. In 

 addition to planetaria and similar mechanisms. Father 

 Hahn produced two extraordinary astronomical. 

 tali-case clocks, both of which survive in public 

 museums. 



Another of the clerical clockmakers was Father 

 Aurelianus a San Daniele ( 1 7_'o 17l!_>). an Augustine 

 monk in the monastery of the Imperial Court at 

 Vienna. 8 His four complicated astronomical clocks, 

 which exist in museums at present, are comparable to 

 those produced by Father Hahn. The third cleric 

 was Brother I >a\ id a San Cajetano (1736-1796) in the 

 same Augustine order to which Father Aurelianus be- 

 longed. He achieved note as the author of various 

 publications, including Neue Radergebiiude 6 [New 



' 1 \ci i m \sn, Philipp Matthaus Hahn; Vischer, Beschreibung 

 mechanischer Kunstwerke .... 

 5 Lloyd, Some Outstanding Clocks Over Seven Hundred Years, 



0, pp. 116. 118, 120. 

 8 San ( mi fANO, Praktische Anleitung fur Kiinstler .... 



( lonstruction oi Wheels] relating to planet-wheels, or 



i ains containing epicyclic elements. I [i 

 structed a clock based on an elaborate astronomical 

 design which was substantiall) different from the 



others. I In- fourth ol the ecclesiasts who designed 

 tstronomii il i locks in this period was I ather Klein ol 

 Prague, who produced a complicated astronomical 

 timepiece in about I ~ 18 



The fact that such important and outstanding 

 ex impli tronomical ilmk^ were produced 



exclusivel) b) ecclesiasts in Austria during the si 

 half of the lllth centur\ is especially significant. Il is 

 particularly so when a tilth cleric is added to the 

 group, also an Austrian subject although Italian by 

 heritage, in the person ■ >! Fathei Francesco Borghesi. 



Although only Father Borghesi's second astronom- 

 ical clock is now known, it is apparent that this 

 example in the Museum of History and Technology 

 represents an experiment in astronomical time-telling 

 comparable to any of the timepieces produced by 

 Father Hahn. Father Aurelianus. Brother David a 

 s.iii ( lajetano oi Fathei Klein. 



This combination of five clerical clockmakers who 

 lived in the same region during the same period of min- 

 is sufficiently unusual. I low ever, the fact that each 

 of them apparently worked without association with 

 any of the others leads to the conjecture that a common 

 factor must have led them to their individual pre- 

 occupation with astronomical horology. What the 

 link may have been is not apparent from the surviving 

 records of the lives and works of these clerics. Cer- 

 tainly it was not an interest in astronomy or clock- 

 making per se, because other than the astronomical 

 clocks, none ol these horolouie.il inventors with the 

 possible exception of Father Hahn — worked in any 

 other aspect of the fields of astronomy or horology. 

 However, after a comprehensive study of Father 

 Borghesi's writings, there is little doubt of the religious 

 basis of his own inspiration. 



Designer Borghesi 



Father Borghesi's story takes place in the pictur- 

 esque mountainous region of what was then known as 

 Venezia Tridentina (since 1947. Trcntino-Alto Adigc) 

 in northern Italy, along the Tyrolean borderof Austria. 

 Because of its strategic position as the passage be- 

 tween Innsbruck and Verona, the possession of the 

 Tridentina was contested again and again in the 

 European wars, but durin« Father Borghesi's lifetime, 



PAPER j;>: THE BORGHESI ASTRONOMICAL CLOCK 

 L"J4 527 67 3 



33 



