Museums of Russia: The Hermitage to restore unique Strasser Grand Clock to the 250th anniversary of the Museum

The State Hermitage Museum begins restoration project of a unique monument of world technical thoughts turn of the XVIII - XIX centuries - Grand Strasser Clock, which are also known as the Mechanical Orchestra.

The construction of height of about four meters made of mahogany wraps accurate astronomical clock and complex musical mechanism - two complementary bodies can reproduce 14 works, including works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn.

Visitors of the museum will see a large Strasser clock in 2014. This is one of the most significant projects in preparation for the Hermitage to the 250 year anniversary.

"We will bring life to a beautiful masterpiece in our collection. Museum visitors will hear a unique sound that has not been heard for nearly two hundred years"- said Director General of the Hermitage Mikhail Piotrovsky.

The music is recorded on the removable wooden cylinders. Its particular value is in the author's arrangement. Today, these products perform differently, and the Mechanical Orchestra will allow hearing them exactly as conceived and played 200 years ago.

By 2014, conservators will restore the clock, timber musical mechanism, the mechanical part of the body and recreate the stand of redwood. Now the filling of grand clock is dismantled in parts, from the wooden rollers they began to read and transfer music to the computer.