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Hi John,
I am not sure for 100% but the round things you saw
could be part of the (in 1994 newly reconstructed) meridian of
Paris.
135 of these humps shoud be placed on this
meridian.
It has to do with the Arago monument.
Arago (1786 - 1853) was director of the Paris
astronomical observatory.
The artist Dibbets of the Netherlands won the
competition for a new Arago monument.
On each hump the word Arago is
written.
This is what I read in the bulletin of De
Zonnewijzerkring, 1995-1
Look at
to see the humps.
This is a page in Dutch.
There seems to be an idea to make this meridian
visible in whole France by planting trees on the line.
Fer J. de Vries
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, August 01, 2004 3:44
AM
Subject: Re: On northern vs. southern
dials
Hello Jean-Paul
When I went to Paris after the Oxford conference,
we were driving around the Place de la Concord in a taxi and I noticed
several little (about 10 -15cm) round brass mounded humps inlaid in the
asphalt. We were going to fast to see if there was anything written on
them. I immediately guessed that they might be hour or date markers for
the sundial. Has anybody else seen these mysterious little brass markers
there?
John
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, March 03, 2002 5:41
AM
Subject: Re: On northern vs. southern
dials
Anselmo
The sundial on the Place de la Concorde in
Paris is a classical horizontal sundial with the "Obelisque" as a vertical
gnomon. Lines are now more or less erased due a lack of maintenance. There
was a scheme with a short explanation in the june 1999 issue of
"L'Astronomie". I can scan it and send it to you or to any member of the
list; just send me a mail.
Regards
Jean-Paul Cornec
(...)
Now that I remember, a kind of
touristical question: in this month's issue of the spanish version of
Scientific American there is an article
by D. Savoie about sundials an in it he says
that in the Place de la Concorde in Paris it was drawn a sundial (an
Oughtred sundial
I suppose) based on the obelisk erected
there. Does anybody know if the lines are still drawn or were they
erased?
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