Sundial

Sundial on the Danube promenade

Since the summer of 1993, a unique timepiece, designed and built by physics and astronomy student Werner Riegler from Grein, has adorned the banks of the Danube in the Esperantoplatz area. This sundial is a so-called equatorial sundial, in which the shadow of a wire rope stretched parallel to the earth's axis falls on a scale. It is then possible to read the time from a semi-cylindrical dial with an accuracy of around two minutes. The frame of this clock is made of chrome-nickel steel, while the dial and scales are made of brass. In addition to the time display, a granite globe is attached to the front. This globe with the engraved continents is illuminated by the sun in the same way as the earth itself. You can therefore see from the shadow boundaries in which countries the sun is currently shining. The fascinating thing about a clock like this is that it is easy to understand how it works and therefore easy to learn about the connections between the movement of the earth and the sun.