18 July 2010

The Sundial Artist


The back wall of the ancient Château in the village of Gorbio has a newly restored sundial - or scratch dial to be technically correct (thanks Alex). With so much digital technology it's nice to tell the time by the sun - at one time the only way to know.

In the lower photos you can see the artist working on it. See how the Château seems to grow out of the rocks that support it.


Thanks to Barbara Pfieffer for the photo on the left, which shows the original sundial - or what was left of it.

14 comments:

  1. Anonymous18 July, 2010

    It's nice to see they have it restored. So what time is it? Half past 4 pm?
    Maybe + 1 hour because of summer time??

    Barbara from Germany

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  2. I took a photo of a more modern sun dial clock here in town that I'd never noticed before. I must link back to you when I post! Yours is prettier!

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  3. How wonderful is this, Jilly. I love it when the past if brought into the future.

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  4. There's such an organic feel to this set of photographs. I think your point is well made about the house seeming to grow out of the rocks supporting it. The restored sundial seems to be as well integrated as all the other elements. Beautiful.

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  5. Very interesting shot and post today. Love sundials.

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  6. FYI, I am the blogger formerly known as "ann p." Just tweaked things a bit. I'm still trying to get the hang of all this.

    Anyway, what a beautiful sundial, and restoration. I'm curious too as to the time it's showing. My guess is around 15:45; is that right?

    I love this series of photos today; everything looks so solid and substantial built into the rock like that. I also liked seeing the artist hard at work restoring the sundial. I confess to being a bit of the sentimental type who's enamored of the past. Perhaps it shows in my still trying to figure out how all this Internet folderol works!

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  7. Barbara and Ann, the time I took this shot was 5.50 in the afternoon (of course one probably has to take into account 'summer time' time). So really I'm not sure how it works but it seems as you look towards the edges, then two hours are indicated as opposed to one hour in the centre. Really I'm not sure.

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  8. A beautiful building to put the sun dial on.

    Joanny

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  9. He did a fine job. Love the photos.
    V

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  10. Anonymous18 July, 2010

    Hi Jilly,
    thanks for publishing my photo and for explaining us how the sundial works!
    Barbara from Germany

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  11. Thanks for sharing the pictures from before and in-progress. It's neat to see the full scope of what was done.

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  12. Only someone like you who is up in Gorbio throughout the year can deliver before/after photos as well as record the work in progress. This is wonderful !

    Congratulations to the artist, he did a great job.

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  13. Anonymous19 July, 2010

    A beautiful dial, Jilly. Or scratch dial, technically? I'm never quite sure. I love the motto. My God - how grim.

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  14. I love those wall Sundials ! Even on a cloudy day - lol

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