Gebr. Stern GmbH's Giant Cuckoo Clock

You don’t have to strain your eyes to check the time on this colossal clock. The clock face, which is surrounded by a charming woodland scene, dominates the front of a store. 

In the mid-1940s, Sergeant Fred Stern of the New York Police Department approached his uncle, Emil Kronenberger, with an idea: to build the largest cuckoo clock in the world. 

Kronenberger owned a souvenir shop in Kaiser-Friedrich Square in Wiesbaden, Germany, a tourist region known for its spas and home to a large American military presence following the Second World War. Stern convinced his uncle that such an attraction would be appealing to American patrons, both servicemembers and tourists alike.

The two set to work, and it wasn’t long before the clock was erected at the entrance of the shop. Measuring over 15 feet tall and nearly nine feet wide, it easily caught the eye of all who passed by. In the 1950s, the clock was named “World’s Largest Cuckoo Clock” by the Guinness Book of World Records, though it has since lost that title.