This solar clock was given to the city of Montreal by the city of Rotterdam as a 325th birthday present, and stands in front of the planetarium on Peel and St-Jacques.
This photo was taken Sept 10th, at around 11:30 am – which means that the sundial is about an hour off from the time on my cellphone…I’m not sure if daylight savings could be to blame? (The orange line is for the month of September.)
7 comments
didn’t know this existed! thanks, i’ll go check it out!
Sundials are always on standard time.
I’ve never seen this either, and I’m form Rotterdam. But in 1999 I was still living there, and I hadn’t been to Canada, let alone Montréal. I’ll check it out (on a sunny day), thanks!
Definitely DST to blame – if there weren’t such, the time right now would be pegged an hour earlier. Remember – Spring Ahead (which we still are at the moment) and Fall Behind. (I don’t dislike DST per se, just the innumerate way it’s implemented – i.e., its start and stop dates.)
I also can’t believe I’ve never noticed this sundial – although thanks to the Griffintown tour, I now know the apparent origin of the Dow planetarium itself – PR guilty conscience by the Dow Brewery for deliberately putting cobalt in their beer…
One reason it’s not so readily noticed is that the statue of Copernicus is nearby and much more prominent.
When they move the planetarium out to the Olympic village (I still think it would have a more natural home on the Old Port near the science centre) it would be nice if this sundial could be set somewhere more central.
I like the sundial too.
I’ve taken a few shots of the sundial at the planetarium, they are here, if you’re interested.
http://sbk.fotopic.net/c1345691.html
They are moving the planetarium out to the Olympic village? Why? When? What are they going to put here instead? (Spacingmontreal, you should update us more on these projects :P). I agree it would be better near the Science Centre.