“The Mastery of Time”, an exhibition which traces the history of time measurement from its origins to the present day, will take up residence inside the historic Ambrosian Library in Milan, during the Universal Exposition Milano 2015 cheap replica watches and the Salone del Mobile. The event will coincide with the presentation of the Italian version of the eponymous book on which it is based.
There could be no more magnificent setting for “The Mastery of Time” exhibition than the Ambrosian Library in Milan. Named after the patron saint of the Lombardy capital, this extraordinary building, established in the early seventeenth century, houses the Codex Atlanticus of Leonardo Da Vinci, a collection of some 1,100 pages bearing scientific and technical drawings by the Italian master, and which are preserved in this bastion of culture. The exhibition curated by the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie will thus be in perfect osmosis with its setting, as it is this most celebrated Renaissance genius who imagined the fusee-and-chain concept as a means to provide a constant flow of energy. Still today, prestigious watchmakers employ this technique, dating from the 1490s, to resolve the thorny issue of amplitude in a mechanical Montblanc replica watches store.
Some one hundred emblematic pieces
The purpose of “The Mastery of Time” is precisely to highlight the importance of the inventions and discoveries that have punctuated the history of time measurement, one of the most fabulous adventures known to Man. From the earliest gnomons to contemporary micromechanical marvels, it highlights some one hundred objects. Each bears witness to the ingenuity Man has deployed throughout the centuries in his quest to master his temporal environment. Presented chronologically as a series of tableaux, the exhibition leads visitors through the succession of technological and scientific breakthroughs that led to the very notion of precision. This science has advanced in the company of art, and more specifically the artistic crafts which have embellished horological history. They ensure that the timepieces on display in Milan are truly masterpieces which contain centuries of invention and expertise. For the past twenty years, this know-how has been the focus for the Fondazione Cologni dei Mestieri d’Arte. Also based in Milan, it too lends its support to the exhibition at the Ambrosian Library.
The measurement of time in six chapters
This exhibition takes root in the eponymous book by Dominique Fléchon, an historian at the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie. First published in French in 2011, it has since been translated into English and Chinese. This authoritative work will now be presented in the language of Leonardo da Vinci, in an augmented and updated version, at the same time as the exhibition it inspired at the Ambrosian Library. “The Mastery of Time” unfolds in six chapters that recount advances made since the first units of measure, imagined by the Babylonians, to contemporary technical and precious fine replica watches for sale. These same six chapters form the structure of the exhibition in Milan.
Never before has such a sum of knowledge been compiled into a single tome that follows the history of time measurement from its origins to the present day. In this respect, “The Mastery of Time”, which is published in Italian by Marsilio, is an essential part of any horological library. An art book as much as a reference work, like the exhibition that accompanies it, it engages us with time no longer through necessity but with new understanding and passion.
Exhibition
“La Conquista del Tempo”
Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana
Sala Federiciana
Piazza Pio XI, 2
20123 Milano
Dates
April 15th – June 14th 2015
Book
“La Conquista del Tempo”
La storia dell’orologeria dalle origini ai nostri giorni :scoperte-invenzioni-progresso
Dominique Fléchon
Prefaced by Franco Cologni
Publisher
Jointly published by Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie and Marsilio
300 colour illustrations, 456 pages
Price: €75