Interesting facts

Sundial with an alarm

  • Roman Pantheon is built on principles of a sundial
  • Very old sundial discovered in Ukraine, link
  • many historic buildings are precisely oriented so that the Sun illuminates shrines on specific dates (Maklavun in Istria, Stonehenge, Abu Simbel...)
  • in Bible, prophet Isaiah calls upon God and he makes the shadow of Akhaz sundial to go back 10 degrees (Second book of kings, 20,7-11)
  • first sundial was made probably in Egypt in 15th century BC
  • on Dinara mountain (Croatia) there is a rock called Samograd, a natural sundial used by locals to tell time
  • in Zagreb, there was a sundial on St. Marco Church built in 1588
  • in Nin, curch of the Holy Cross from 9th century served also as a sundial
  • in Novi Sad (Serbia) there is a sundial made from flowers
  • in Alexandria (Egypt), there is a park with flower sundials
  • in Macchu Picchu (Peru) there is a rocky sundial (damaged during filming)
  • in Travnik (Bosnia and Herzegovina), on Hadži-Ali-beg mosque, in Livno also on mosque, and in Neum interesting sundials can be found
  • in Vid near Metković a roman sundial was found (place called Narona)
  • Faust Vrančić constructed a sundial (that could measure days and months)
  • firm DURO-METAL on Horvatovac (Zagreb) makes sundials
  • in museums there are a lot of sundials (solar ring in Croatian Historic Museum in Zagreb from 1695, equinocial sundial with quadrant from 1801, Arts and Crafts Museum in Zagreb has a few sundials, museum in Gornja Stubica, Ogulin, Senj, Bjelovar...)
  • pretty sundials in Pančevo, Sombor, Srijemska Mitrovica (Serbia), Herceg-Novi (Montenegro)...