# Astronomische Uhr

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Canonical page: https://mytuur.com/en/city/ulm/spot/astronomische-uhr/

Content updated: 2026-08-25

Astronomische Uhr stands on the Ulm Rathaus in Germany, where five moving elements turn the façade into an astronomical display. Sun, moon, stars, zodiac, and calendar share the mechanism. The sun hand ends in a golden sun, travelling from the top at noon to the bottom at midnight.

The gilded-copper zodiac ring turns slightly faster than the sun hand and follows the changing zodiac sign. The moon hand takes about fifty minutes longer to complete a rotation. That delay reflects the synodic month, while a moon sphere reveals golden or black sides for different phases. A dragon hand marks eclipses when it aligns with the sun and moon hands. The calendar ring follows the zodiac, showing months, days, solstices, and equinoxes.

Believed to date from the early sixteenth century, the clock reflects late medieval astronomical knowledge. Detailed zodiac figures suggest a date around 1520. In 1579, a clockmaker from Schaffhausen repaired the mechanism after earlier technical difficulties. Celestial movements here once supported navigation and agriculture. The moon sphere’s spoon-like shell remains its most distinctive detail, exposing either a golden or black surface.

- City: [Ulm](https://mytuur.com/en/city/ulm/)

## Photos

- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_AstronomischeUhr_66f16310efe5be22d1c41f08_0.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ulmer_Rathaus_Uhr.jpg)
- ![](https://mytuur-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/image_AstronomischeUhr_66f16310efe5be22d1c41f08_1.jpg) — [Image: wikimedia](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Astrologische_Uhr_am_Ulm_Rathaus_\(Astrological_clock_at_the_Rathaus,_Ulm\)_-_geo.hlipp.de_-_21316.jpg)

Spots like this one are the stops myTuur strings into tours through Ulm. In the app, each story begins where you stand: walk up to a spot and it starts, read it on screen or listen as you go, then follow the route to the next one.

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myTuur is a free city-guide app. Its tours are built from spots, and each spot carries a story that starts when you get there, to read or to listen to as you like.