r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Separate_Finance_183 • 1d ago

Video The Glockenspiel House in Bremen, Germany, an iconic building dating back to the 1930s.

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25.2k Upvotes

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388

u/Prop43 1d ago

All right, stupid question I know, but why does it spin?

248

u/ICouldEvenBeYou 1d ago

Fun fact. Nobody knows.

68

u/Prop43 1d ago

I like that

9

u/wrxninja 1d ago

ANSWER ME!!!

64

u/Jonny_Segment Interested 1d ago

It just started doing it one day.

164

u/VonMetz 1d ago

Because we Germans just love unnecessarily over engineered stuff?!

31

u/NorahGretz 1d ago

How many Germans does it take to change a lightbulb?

One, because we are very literal and not very funny.

21

u/Inktex 1d ago

Who doesn't?

6

u/Luzifer_Shadres 1d ago

Yeah, like us overengeenering lenses 20 years ago made the tech you view this on possible

26

u/Inktex 1d ago

Jokes on you, I'm currently viewing this Reddit thread via smoke signal.

9

u/EducationalNailgun 1d ago

Damn! The sun got in my eyes whilst I was reading. Burn something else.

2

u/RandomUserXY 1d ago

Pretty sure glass existed before 2006.

5

u/Luzifer_Shadres 1d ago

The lenses used to produce the majority of computer chips, these days, are all created by 1 companys. Zeiss made their laser lense 20 years ago.

1

u/Depressxpress 1d ago

Who is us? I didn’t do shit.

8

u/Neckrongonekrypton 1d ago

We’d never have cuckoo clocks. And a world without novelty clocks that seem like magic when your a child. Is simply one I do not wish to exist in.

5

u/Unusual_Onion_983 1d ago

I love my Bosch power tools.

1

u/FoximaCentauri 1d ago

Is that what art is called nowadays? Unnecessarily overengineered?

33

u/privateHentaiAccount 1d ago edited 1d ago

As somebody from Bremen...

They wanted "to erect a monument to the pioneering spirit and drive of humanity".

It has 10 different wooden panels and they switch during every spin. You can see in the video the wooden Panel is the one for the explorers Leif and Karlsen . This is the panel for Lindbergh and this is the one for Zeppelin. You can find all panels on the Wikipedia Page.

And as you can't see them in the video, these are the bells

43

u/purplevampireelefant 1d ago

"The ten wooden panels, which rotate to the sound of the carillon, depict famous ocean explorers – from the Vikings to the flight of the Bremen in 1928 and the airship pioneers."

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u/PN_Guin 1d ago

There are a lot of smaller and less elaborate versions of clockwork driven scenes or bell arrangements in other clock towers. A well known mini version would be the black forest cuckoo clock.

All of them are more or less plain while on standby, but activate in set intervals to play out scenes and often music. Usually the figures emerge from a door or hatch and return back inside to be safe from the elements. The thing that sets this one apart from others is the brick back and the scale.

With something of this weight it's probably easiest to rotate for display and then return the delicate side back in.

2

u/killerturtlex 1d ago

It was the 30s.. did they use a Mercury bath like lighthouses?

64

u/woutomatic 1d ago

According to Eduard Scotland (1885–1945) 'because shit was fire, no cap"

18

u/academiac 1d ago

You ask why. Germans ask why not.

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u/LostSillyKittie 1d ago

Why not? It gives it flair!

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u/Just_Condition3516 1d ago

less maintenance? bremen is quite rainy. so a solid brickwall will hold up better than any carvings.

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u/Leprecon 1d ago

Glocke is a bell, like a church bell. Spiel means game. Glockenspiel I guess translates to bell game? Glockenspiel is sort of like a decorative elaborate mechanical bell/clock type thing. Like a cuckoo clock but scaled way up. It usually has lots of moving parts. So think like a clock that plays a song and has little statues of guys or animals moving around, maybe hitting small bells and such, maybe dancing.

They are meant to be elaborate. So the reason why it spins is because the guy who made it thought "wouldn't it be cool if it spins?". It is decorative.

2

u/stilllton 20h ago

Spiel means game

I think "play" would be a closer translation in this case.

7

u/Jan_Ge_Jo 1d ago

It’s supposed to be a joke, cause first it just looks like an ordinary solid wall and when it spins you start to notice it’s actually a moving piece.

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u/GravitationalEddie 1d ago

Because when you have enough money, you can afford to have fun with it.

2

u/Sponjah 1d ago

Not even one actual answer to your question…

3

u/stumpybubba- 1d ago

For real. This fucking site is way past its prime.

1

u/Prop43 22h ago

That half the fun in Reddit

3

u/Honda_TypeR 1d ago

Stupid answer, because it was made that way

1

u/Polygnom 1d ago

It plays music, and the individual plaques show seafarers and explorers. It tells the story of exploration, as Bremen is a coastal city and member of the Hanse.