The construction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame of Lausanne began as early as 1170 by an original unknown master mason. Twenty years later another master mason restarted construction until 1215. Finally a third engineer, Jean Cotereel, completed the majority of the existing cathedral including a porch, and two towers, one of which is the current day belfry. The other tower was never completed. Lausanne Cathedral is considered to be the best Gothic Cathedral is Switzerland. It has been extensively renovated and restored. Since 1405 until the present day without interruption, the city of Lausanne has maintained a lookout in the Cathedral bell tower. The lookout announces the time by yelling the hour from 10 pm to 2 am, 365 days a year. The lookout cries the hour to each cardinal direction.
Seriously, the time is called out in the middle of the night? Four times, each hour? Do people live near the church?
I think they call it twice per hour but turn to each of the 4 directions to account it. People live around the Cathedral but the tower is quite tall, I don’t know how loud it gets but I am sure people just get used to it.