Hello Anselmo, In 1836 the Belgian minister of home affairs laid down by law that the most principal cities in Belgium should have a meridian dial. So it was possible for all citizens, by means of an easy calculation, to adjust their watches to the local time of Brussels, capital of Belgium.
There are still existing meridian lines from that time in Aalst Antwerp ( see description on http://www.biol.rug.nl/maes/zonnewijzers/welcome-e.htm ) Bruges Brussels Dendermonde Ghent Lier A description and history of all meridian lines, still existing and disappeared, you can find in "Zonnetijdingen 1999 - 12, the journal of the Sundial Associaton Flandern You can see a new meridian dial in the Sundial Park of Genk ( see description (Dutch text) on http://www.biol.rug.nl/maes/genk/welcome-e.htm ) Willy Leenders Hasselt, Flanderen in Belgium Anselmo Pérez Serrada wrote: > Dear dialists, > > As you all know, a Meridian Dial is a sundial with only one hour line: > that of noon, > which coincides with the meridian or N-S line if we measure local time. > In Europe you can find them in some temples, the most outstanding ones > being these: > > Date Height Temple City > ================================= > 1437 50 m Holy Sophie Istanbul > 1468 90 m S. Maria del Fiore Firenze > 1653 27 m S. Petronio Bologna > 1743 26 m S. Sulpice Paris > 1786 24 m Duomo Milano > > By 'Height' I mean the height of the (pinhole) nodus from the ground in > meters. > > Now my question is: does anybody know about some other remarkable > meridian lines, > maybe in other continents, maybe modern ones, or showing mean time, etc...? > > Best regards, > > Anselmo > > - -
