Analemmatic dials

St. Janskerkhof, Utrecht

The analemmatic sundial in Utrecht was the first public dial of this type in the Netherlands. The Dutch Sundial Society presented the design to the city of Utrecht at the occasion of its fifth anniversary in 1983.

The major axis of the dial is 10 meters (33 ft), which is somewhat large for a human gnomon. Yes, thank you for showing us, Manon!

The design is quite nice. The date line is engraved in a stone slab. The scale shows the calendar months, not the zodiacal months as one sees so often. The hour points denote civil time in brass numerals, embedded in square plates. Local mean time is indicated by white bricks in between, without numbers. The foci of the ellipse are marked by triangular stone tiles, which at the same time serve as arrows indicating East and West. A third arrow head points North (see the bottom picture on this page). No, there is no South-pointing arrow.

I was looking forward quite eagerly to seeing this memorable specimen in real life. Unfortunately, the visit was rather disappointing, as is so often the case when one's expectations are high.

Firstly, the beautiful setting, in front of the medieval church, had been ruined effectively by using it as a parking lot for a couple of oversized traffic blockers. Temporarily, perhaps, but that does not necessarily mean just a little while, as the weeds around them demonstrate...

The date line is still visible: on purpose or by chance?

The second problem concerns the hour points. The plates are made from plywood, which appears to be not too durable...
The 12-hour point is missing. The North-pointing arrow and the brick indicating local mean noon (at about 12:40 Central European time) are visible in the picture here.
Around the date line, the tiles showing the signs of the zodiac at the solstices and the equinoxes are also missing, as the picture above shows.

Location: 52.1° N, 5.1° E
Design: J.A.F. de Rijk
Inauguration: October 1983