Sundials ??

Rathausplatz, Anholt (Germany)

This object, on top of a fountain, stands in front of the former City Hall from 1567, and could be inspected comfortably from its outdoor café that offered us relaxation and a drink.

One sees a vertical ring carrying the numbers 1 - 24, a vertical dodecagon showing the signs of the zodiac, a horizontal octagon with some kind of bar code, an oblique square and an additional triangle.

Loaded with symbols, I may say. Some of it was revealed to us the next year (August 2000). The designer, the Italian artist Francesco Coter, explains his intentions:

Hence, no sundial! "The water represents the base of the creation, its connection with the earth and the heavens." (I hope the translation from Italian, through German and Dutch into English does not cause undue harm to the text.) The five regular forms summarize the relationship between man and the universe:

• The dodecagon refers to the months, identified by the signs of the zodiac.
• The bar codes on the octagon are the symbols of cosmic change: heaven, earth, thunder, water, mountain, wind, fire and sea. But which is which?
• The endless circle reflects beginning, end and return of all things. My guess is that the day, with its 24 hours, is Coters metaphor here.
  The other side of the ring carries dozens of lines. I didn't count them, but there may well be 96 of them, the number of quarters in a day.
• The square points to the four seasons. A summary of the dodecagon, so to speak.
• The triangle, finally, represents the three aspects of the individual: the physical, the intellectual and the spiritual.

Location: 51.9° N, 6.4° E

Private garden, Regniet near Anholt

A real equatorial dial can be found in the hamlet of Regniet, near Anholt. A beautiful piece of craftsmanship!

The use of different metals outdoors may induce problems, by electrochemical corrosion. Here, the steel screws used to secure the 10-minute marks and hour numbers give way to the copper dial ring.

Anholt is little old city, just across the Dutch border. It is well known for Anholt Castle, now a museum (e.g. Rembrandt!) and a hotel.
In the park of the Castle we discovered a very cute hedge maze. It is a reconstruction of an 18th century specimen, planted in 1987. Its 430 m (1410 ft) of thuya hedge, 2 m (6½ ft) high, and its 470 m (1540 ft) of path cover an area of 1000 m² (¼ acre). So says the sign at the entrance.
The tea garden has an armillary sphere (DCG 2596), a copy of the original in the Museum. It is pointing north-eastish.

Some nice websites about the Castle:

• the site of the Salm-Salm Family
• the site of the Museum
• the site of the Hotel