Le Defenseur du temps is a work of the French artist Jacques Monestier located in the third arrondissement of Paris, in the neighborhood of the Clock.
It is a mechanical clock characterized by various characters that embody particular symbolic meanings.
The main character is a man, the defender of time, who fights against three animals: a crab, a dragon and a bird representing respectively the sea, the earth and the sky.
At the stroke of each hour, from 9am to 10pm, the defender faces one animal at a time. At 12 noon, 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. the three animals attack the man at the same time.
A bronze drum announces the hour and three strokes mark the beginning of the defender’s fight.
The clash is accompanied by the sound of the waves, the blowing of the wind or the vibration of the earth depending on the animal that faces it.
The clock was inaugurated in 1979 by Jacques Chirac, then Mayor of Paris.
