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Do not change the original mechanism of the Stabroek clock

Oct 12, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor;
It was with a feeling of euphoria that I received the news that the iconic Stabroek Market clock in Georgetown will soon be rehabilitated, thanks to the United States Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation.
Then I received the dreadful news that the intention was not really to rehabilitate the clock but rather to change the system from a mechanically operated one to an electronic one, inclusive of a solar-powered system. To add insult to the injury this will cause to the citizenry, the Mayor, Patricia Chase Green boasted that the change in systems is to coincide with the “greening” of the country and that the rehabilitation is expected to bring back a piece of history.
Could someone tell this lady that the clock is not the face and dials we see but rather the mechanism that powers it, therefore changing that mechanism does not bring back a piece of history nor rehabilitate it and that the clock was already a green device as it did not consume any power and was environmentally friendly.
How could those culturally primitive people at City Hall allow for such a travesty to be committed on one of our most treasured heritage landmarks of our country? Could one imagine ‘Big Ben’ the clock at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, one of the most prominent symbols of the United Kingdom as the Stabroek Market Clock is to Guyana, being changed from the double three-legged gravity escapement mechanism which weighs  5 tons, to an electronic one?
Or the clocks in the Philadelphia City Hall, in Philadelphia, United States? Or the clocks at the Saviour Tower which is located in the famous Red Square in Moscow, Russia close to Saint Basil’s Cathedral and part of the Kremlin walls, changed from their original mechanics to electronic ones?
That would be sacrilege, it would never be allowed, it would be considered criminal. So why should Guyana allow such irreverence? Why have we not seen any action by the National Trust of Guyana, the Guyana Heritage Society or the Guyana Historical and Research Society coming out and stopping this madness?
I say so even if it has to be a judicial order restraining the Council from beginning or carrying out such vulgar action.  I call on the President of Guyana Brigadier David Arthur Granger who is an Academic and Historian to intervene and stop this foolishness.
Centuries of public time stand watch over the cities of Europe, Asia, and much of the Western Hemisphere. Public time is alive and well, both as architectural embellishment and as a bond with the challenges faced in the nation’s past.
The great 1881 iron clock tower of Stabroek Market, at the heart of the capital’s commercial life, shows the efficiency and superior timekeeping engineering of the past. Such clocks were made individually, using the traditional hand skills of the blacksmith and the iron founder to fashion both the tile massive iron frame and the small, delicate parts of the mechanism.
The Stabroek Market Clock was rehabilitated in the past by engineers from the Smithsonian Institute and can be repaired again if the effort is put in. But of course the Council wants a quick and easy fix to seem to be doing something for the residents of Georgetown
If we allow this to happen, then the next thing we will see is City Hall being rehabilitated using stucco, stone masonry veneer, wood-plastic composites and decorative high-pressure laminates.  We cannot allow the buffoons at City Hall to permanently destroy our national patrimony.
 Riley Matthews

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