From a watch on our wrist to a clock on our phone, it’s easy to find the time.

The Minneapolis Sculpture Clock on Nicollet Mall has been giving all of us the time for decades.

“I think it’s underappreciated,” Ben Shardlow with the Minneapolis Downtown Council & Downtown Improvement District said. “I think people might pass it every day and not realize how much history is there and how much has gone into it still working.”

Back in the late 1960s, Minneapolis wanted artwork when it opened Nicollet Mall, so the city reached out to artist Jack Nelson to build the Sculpture Clock. The 21-foot-high, glass-enclosed five-hundred-piece clock was dedicated in 1968.

“It is one of one,” Shardlow said. “There’s only one sculpture clock like it.”

The clock stopped working decades ago, but when Nicollet Mall was renovated in 2017, a team of people brought the clock back to life.

Today, the Sculpture Clock stands tall on Peavey Plaza — a symbol of our past, present, and future.

“I hope when people see the Sculpture Clock they can appreciate and have that same sense that we are, that Minneapolis cares about public art, our community and the legacy of pieces like Jack Nelson’s Sculpture Clock,” Shardlow said.