Sundial of the Cathedral of Strasbourg

Sundial of the cathedral of Strasbourg - Sundial - Strasbourg Cathedral - These three dials are painted on the south facade of the cathedral in 1572, then graved in stone in 1669. They are the work of Conrad Dasypodius and were used to set the second astronomical clock of the cathedral. They were restored in 2019. The upper dial is placed at the top of the pediment. This is a classic vertical dial declinant. Its style is wrought iron, fixed in the wall by two feet seals. Numbers are arranged in U at the end of the hour lines, from 8:00am to 3:00pm, written in Roman numerals. The other two dials are placed under the previous one. The left dial allows you to read the horizontal coordinates of the sun, that is, its height and its azimuth. The Gothic motto reads: “Veritas temporis filia” (truth or correctness is the girl of time). The style is made up of a horizontal rod ending with a small stars ball. Vertical lines, without graduation, determine the azimuth. They are cut by a series of hyperboles whose curvature decreases from the bottom to the top and finally ends with a horizontal, materializing the position of the sun on the horizon. The dial on the right shows the Babylonic hours that determine the length of time spent since sunrise, as well as the italic hours that give the time spent since the last sunset.