Time runs out for "World's Largest Timepiece"
City authorities in Zurich have decided to auction the parts of a Christmas street light display which once adorned the exclusive Bahnhofstrasse.
Known as “The World’s Largest Timepiece”, the display consisted of a chain of 275 seven-metre tubular light bulbs hung down the middle of the street. Light points in the tubes sent ripples along the length of Bahnhofstrasse.
The SFr2.4 million ($2.59 million) installation, designed by architects Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, proved so unpopular with residents that it was replaced in 2010 with an installation of lights called “Lucy”.
The Zurich Bahnhofstrasse Association said interested parties would have from April until June to bid for a part of the installation or the whole work. The starting price for a single light rod is SFr1,000 and SFr300,000 for the entire installation.
The highest bidder for the most light rods will be informed in September.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.