The clock was first installed in 1540. Photo: newsteam.co.uk/HRP

Henry VIII’s 467 year-old astronomical clock, one of the most important late-medieval timepieces in Europe, has been taken down to be restored in time for the 500th anniversary of the Tudor monarch's coronation.

Installed at Hampton Court Palace in 1540, the clock has been carefully removed from its home in the upper storeys of the Tudor Gatehouse, and will be studied by curators and conservators before it is restored.

Visitors to Hampton Court Palace will also have a rare opportunity to view the dials of the astronomical clock closely when they go on display in Clock Court until the end of October 2007.

The main dial is more than 2.5 metres across. Photo: newsteam.co.uk/HRP

The removal of the clock is part of a wider project to restore the Tudor brick and stonework of Anne Boleyn’s Gatehouse at the palace. Work is scheduled to take approximately nine months and it is hoped that Henry VIII’s clock will be back in its rightful place by April 2008.

Historic Royal Palaces are restoring and representing the Tudor areas of Hampton Court in the lead up to the 500th anniversary of Henry’s accession to the throne in 2009.

King Henry VIII commissioned astronomer and ‘Devisor of the King’s Horologes’ Nicolas Kratzer, a Bavarian friend of famous court artist Hans Holbein, to design the astronomical clock, which he made with the help of French clockmaker Nicholas Oursian.

Henry's clock should be back in place by April 2008. Photo: newsteam.co.uk/HRP

The result was a work of art that told the time, month, day, position of the sun in the zodiac and the phase and age of the moon. It also showed the time at which the moon would cross the meridian, which was used for calculating high water and would have been useful as Henry travelled to London by barge along the tidal River Thames.

Originally there were two clock faces either side of the gatehouse, although the smaller one facing Base Court was replaced in 1835 by a slate clock face from St James’s Palace.

The larger dial survives to this day and measures more than 2.5 metres wide, overlooking the royal courtyard.

Hampton Court is gearing up for the 500th anniversary of Henry VIII's enthronement. Photo: newsteam.co.uk/HRP

Its gears and mechanism were designed by Oursian, whose initials NO, along with the date, 1540, can still be seen engraved on it.

Conservators will be assessing the state of the copper dials and existing paint and gilding scheme, which is suffering from flaking. The complex clock mechanism will be dismantled by experts from the Cumbria Clock Company who will then restore the mechanism and gears.