EuroLife: Day 53

You have all no doubt heard of the Seven Wonders of the World but are you familiar with the Seven Wonders of Jena? I'm going to go ahead and assume that you are not; this seems to be the safe bet.

Michael and I began to hear about these Seven Wonders shortly after our arrival in Jena. I thought that it was a cute local joke, something thought-up by the local tourism board. I was wrong! My (relatively) reliable internet sources tell me that a Latin verse concerning the Seven Wonders of Jena can be traced back to the 16th Century. It was "expanded and revised", and by 1685 the version which is now taught had been written.

Apparently, most students memorize this Latin verse, which goes as follows: "Ara, caput, draco, mons, pons, vulpecula turris, Weigeliana domus, septem miracula Jenae. " Translated: Altar, head, dragon, the mountain, the bridge, the Fox Tower, the Weigels house, the seven wonders of Jena.

I set out this afternoon to find the Altar, the first of the wonders. I did find it, but it's currently in the middle of a construction site, so that one will have to wait. By some great stroke of fortune, I accidentally found the Head! I was in the city exploring a bit, and I heard a clock begin to chime. I looked up, and there it was:

The "head" refers to the head in the center, just above the clock face. To his right (on our left) is a man with a gold ball on a stick. As the clock chimes the hour, the man brings the ball towards the head, which leans forward and tries to get the ball with his mouth. It does this once for every chime; I watched this happen just before taking the picture. (Maybe one day I'll be fast enough, and adequately prepared, to take a picture while it's happening.)

Even without a story, this is very cool to see. It reminded me of watching the eagle flap its wings in Stony Brook; I still get excited when I'm around to see that. With the story, this first wonder is fantastic.

First, the gold ball: apparently, it's supposed to represent a local delicacy--it's a potato-based ball, I'm not sure exactly what it's called. Still, I find that very amusing. The poor head is just trying to grab a bite to eat.

However, it is in everybody's self-interest that this head never get that little gold ball. If he does, the world will end. That is, if the legend is to be believed. This is a very impressive legend, far reaching in its scope. It's not merely that the church and its clock-tower will collapse, or that the city will come to great peril; the world will end. We can only hope that whoever designed this was very, very precise in implementing his plans. Anything else would be downright irresponsible.

So that's the first of the seven wonders, though really it's the second. The first, as I said, is under construction and will need to wait.