Every year around this time, a crowd gathers in Palma's Plaça de Cort to celebrate New Year's Eve. They do so to the sound of the chimes of the Figuera clock, located on the façade of the City Hall. Its history stretches back more than six centuries, to when this time machine began its journey. According to legend, the first clock in Figuera—there have been successive clockwork mechanisms—was much older: it was supposedly brought with them by the Jews who emigrated to Mallorca when Jerusalem was captured by the Roman Emperor Vespasian. As for the bell, it was said to have been in the synagogue in that same city where Jesus was condemned to death. It was the chronicler Joan Dameto who determined that this was impossible. Indeed, clockwork mechanisms date from the late Middle Ages. Figuera was one of the pioneers: at that time, Mallorca traded with much of Europe; it was not some remote place. It is believed to have been the first public clock in the entire country.