2047 (2046, 2666)
Three pictures of Rostock hang over my desk: an engraving, an oleograph, and a photo.
The engraving shows the houses clustered near the churches. The word ROSTOCHIUM appears in the clouds…To the left and right, winged lions with eagles’ beaks: “Anno 1620”…Somewhere in the church there is also the skeleton of a whale: over thirty feet long, the object of equal amazement. And back in the choir an astronomical clock ticks away, with sunrises and sunsets: a wooden man (Julius Caesar, in fact) is pointing to the date with a stick:
‘Here at any time you may
Observe the passing hour of the day.’
He has been doing this since 1472 and, barring accidents, will go on doing it until the year 2047.
Walter Kempowski, Days of Greatness
