This clock is a reconstruction of the one that stood on Place Gambetta before 1940. It bears the name of Louis Dewailly (Mayor of Amiens 1873-1874) in recognition of the legacy of 25,000 F that he left to build a clock useful to passers-by (rare were those who had a watch at that time). Only the statue is original.

In 1896, Emile Ricquier (architect of the Municipal Circus of Amiens) created the clock that was installed on Place Gambetta. At the top of an ornate metal column entangled with scrolls and flowers in the Art Nouveau style, a baluster supports its three dials, corresponding to three directions and lit at night.

In 1898, a bronze statue was placed against her. Allegory of Spring, renamed Marie sans chemise by the poet Edouard David, this young undressed woman with gracefully raised arms is the work of Albert Roze. His nymph, this time in stone, preserved at the Musée de Picardie, raises an apple tree branch towards the sky, which she does not have here.

In 1940, the statue was unbolted and protected from bombing. The column that remained was found long after the war, in a vacant lot, dislocated and rusty.

In 1965, Marie sans chemise was exhibited alone on a plinth, without the column, between the streets Dusevel and Flatters, a stone's throw from the Place Gambetta.

Gilles de Robien (Mayor of Amiens from 1989 to 2001) planned to rehabilitate the clock. He entrusted the architect François Vasselle with the task of supervising the faithful reproduction of the column based on the original plans by Emile Ricquier that were preserved.

On December 31, 1999, Place Dusevel, the inauguration of the new clock celebrated our entry into the 21st century, a few meters from its original location.

Go to the Dewailly Clock