One more interesting titbit regarding filar gnomons: in 1968 Romanian-born German-language poet Paul Celan published the poem "Fadensonnen" which you can listen to at the link below as read aloud by its author:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV_7AVKyBpo The English translation of "Threadsuns" goes like this: *Threadsuns* *over the grayblack wasteness.* *A tree-* *high thought* *strikes the light-tone: there are* *still songs to sing beyond* *humankind* Some literary critics think that the word "Fadensonne" is an old synonym for "filar gnomon", certainly making this one of the strangest sundial poems I've come across. Dan Uza On Sun, Nov 29, 2015 at 7:55 PM, Dan-George Uza <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello, > > Catholic bishop Batthyany Ignac established one of the first astronomical > observatories of Transylvania in Alba Iulia in the late 1700s, with > Antonius Martonfi - a former Jesuit - serving as astronomer and director. > The latter published a 400 page book in 1798 entitled "Initia astronomica" > which lists the observatory's available technical equipments. Among them > were two scientific gnomons, one of which is said to have been filar > (gnomon filaris, gnomon filair, meridienne filaire). Today Martonfi's book > is rather difficult to come by, there once was a copy in Cluj University > library, but that has since vanished (perhaps it was stolen and sold off to > collectors). So far I have been unable to gain access inside the > Observatory in Alba Iulia and actually see what remains of these gnomons, > but I managed to obtain a photo showing what appears to be a trap door on > the wooden floor of the observing room, presumably with a cable running > underneath up to the wall in the back, ending with a suspended weight (see > enclosed). I've done some research and it seems this kind of sundial was > first described by German physicist Christian Gottlieb Kratzenstein in > 1782. A detailed description and drawing are also available in the work > "Beschreibung der meteorologischen Instrumente" by Augustin Stark, a copy > of which can be read here: > http://www.e-rara.ch/zut/content/titleinfo/6013342 > > Have a look at the drawing on the left of Tab. V on page 100. There light > enters through a 2 mm hole drilled in a metal plate which is fixed outside > the southern window, parallel to the equator, and the meridian cable runs > across the roof of the room and also ends in a weight. From it you had to > suspend one or more vertical wires, the shadows of which caught on a piece > of paper were used to time solar transits. But contrary to the filar gnomon > presented in this book, the meridian cable from the old observatory in Alba > Iulia appears to run UNDER the floor so I am unsure how it was used. The > question also arises whether there still are any similar working filar > gnomons left in other old astronomical observatories. > > Dan Uza > -- Dan-George Uza http://cerculdestele.blogspot.com
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