Budapest Timewheel or Időkerék 2025-2026 in Hungary

Permanently Closed

The Timewheel (Időkerék) in Budapest is no longer operational.

The Timewheel was eight meters in diameter, contained seven tons of sand, and was the largest hourglass in Europe. Even though you could see Budapest's Timewheel at any time, the best occasion came on December 31. Only once a year, a team of four people reset the flow of glass particles for another year. It took about an hour to rotate the Timewheel using thick steel cables.

This installation was symbolic as it stood in the same place where a giant statue of Lenin used to be. The Timewheel commemorated Hungary's inclusion into the European Union. Its timing was kept perfectly with the help of a computerized system, ensuring that tiny pieces of glass fell evenly from the upper to lower glass reservoirs.