Sundial Sightings

Chartreuse - South

The south-facing sundial. The dial shows hourlines from 7 to 6 pm. It has also shortened half-hour markers. The hourlines emanate from a moon circle.

The decoration seems a bit baroque.

The dial face has a motto “Nos Jours Secoulent Com...” The rest is no longer readable.

The dial has been restored in 1988 by Atelier Tournesol.

	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Colonie de Vacances, Chartreuse, St. Julien en Beauchêne, Hautes-Alpes, France	5.753	44.6325

Chartreuse - Ouest

This is an west-facing sundial. It shows hour and half-hour lines from 2:30 to 6:30 pm, although from the gnomon you can see that it indicates already much earlier.

Unfortunately the dial face is broken by a new building addition.

		Longitude	Latitude
		5.753	44.6330

MF des Etroits

This sundial can be found on a building next to the Maison Forestiere.

It is a simple dial showing hourlines from 7 to 4. The hourlines are difficult to see and only the hour markers can be seen. The gnomon seems a bit bent.

Unfortunately there is a ghost shadow on the dial face due to an electricity post.

	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Maison Forestière des Etroits, St. Julien en Beauchêne, Hautes-Alpes, PACA, France	5.7244	44.6297

La Germanette

This sundial can be found on the bar/restaurant at La Germanette, the public open swimming pool in Serres. The dial had hourlines from 6 to 6. Is this for real, it seems very symmetric. And at the top a boat, which relates to the pool.

	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Bar, La Germanette, Serres, PACA, France	5.724391	44.407481

Entrevaux mairie

A simple dial with hourlines from 8 to 4 o’clock. It can be found on the Mairie in the center of Entrevaux.

	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Place Ch Panier, Entrevaux, Alpes de Haute Provence, PACA, France	6.810075	43.950277

Entrevaux pont levis

This dial is in Entrevaux on northern side of the ‘pont levis’ (bridge). The dial seems to have taken an artistic twist with just 7 hour markers and no further information. I have a feeling that the lines are incorrect as they are all equally spaced.

		Longitude	Latitude
		6.809785	43.949605

Entrevaux remnant

A sundial that is partially gone, only the gnomon is left. I guess this was an more elaborate dial, as the gnomon has a declination hole.

	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Rue de l'eglise, Entrevaux, Alpes de Haute Provence, PACA, France	6.812317	43.950478

Castellane Caisse d’Epargne

This sundial can be found on the wall of the Caisse d’Epargne building, which is located on the main plaza of Castellane.

The dial is fairly simple with just some hourlines from 8 to 17 o’clock. Interesting the early hours have a blue dent in it, why is that? There is a motto in Latin ‘Vulnerant Omnes Ultima Necat’.

The dial seems to be recent, 1991, but needs already some repairs: the image of the sun is peeling off.

	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Main Square, Castellane, Alpes de Haute Provence, PACA, France	6.512811	43.84649

Castellane - Office de Tourisme

This sundial can be found in Castellane above the Office de Tourisme Building. This building can be found on the main road through town (the Route Napoleon), just north of the main plaza. It is on corner of Boulevard Saint Michel and rue National.

The dial is pretty recent, from 2007. The sundial face itself is simple, just some hourlines from 8 am to 6 pm. Below are the 7 shields, which I assume correspond to the surrounding villages. Below that is a motto ‘Lou souleu es jamai tant bèu, qu’un jour mounte s’encaminan’. I guess this is in provençal, which I would translate to ‘the sun is never more beautiful than when it rises during a walk’.

Below and above the dial are to images, which I gues refer to war and peace.

Album	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Corner Boulevard Saint Michel and rue National, Castellane, PACA, France	6.511909	43.847813

Gourdon

This sundial can be found in Gourdon. It is in the center of this picturesque, but touristy village. It can be found at the end of the rue de l’école next to la place de cisterne.

The dial is very simple with some hourlines and and a nice head above the stylus. I wonder about the authenticity of this sundial. In this old village, it has probably been added at a later date.

Album	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Gourdon, Alpes-Maritimes, PACA, France	6.978721	43.719535

Les Saintes-Maries de la Mer

This sundial can be found in Les Saintes-Maries de la Mer. It can be found on the Musée Baroncelli, rue Victor-Hugo.

The dial is very east facing and start at 5 o’clock and has lines up to 12 o’clock. The dial is made of stone and is set in a medaillon.

Album	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Musée Baroncelli, rue Victor-Hugo, Les Saintes-Maries de la Mer, Bouche du Rhone (13), France	4.427672624588013	43.4512209791871

Les Thuiles

This sundial is fairly straightforward. It has only hourlines indicated by roman numerals. The motto reads “je passe et je reviens, tu passe & ne reviens pas”, translates as ‘I come and return, you come and do not return’. The dial was created in 1881 and was restored in 1996 by JFG.

Album	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Church, Les Thuiles, Alpes de Haute-Provence, France	6.566262245178223	44.39392889492094

Chaudon 2

A very nice recent dial on Maison Derbez B. I assume these are the owners of the house. The dial has been created in 2004. I am not sure who are the creators as there are multiple initials, such as J.F.G. and Ph. & G.L. The painting on the dial is simple with just some grapes. The motto of the dial is “Un temps pour semer, un temps pour vendanger”. This translates very roughly to “a time to sow the seeds, a time to pick the fruits”. There is also an intricate square, with four lines, which read Sator, Arepo, Tenet, Opera, Rotas. This is a latin palindrome. The sentence reads the same from back to front, up to down and down to up. There are four number at each corner of the square (1, 4, 3, 6). Not sure what that means.

There are many lines visible on the dial. Naturally the lines for hours and half-hours, indicated in Roman numbers. Also the date lines are visible, indicated as 21 jun, 10, jul, 10 aug, 3 sep, 23 sep, 14 oct, 4 nov, 1 dec and 21 dec. And if you wonder why these dates, they equate the number of sunshine hours (durée du jour) (15.5, 15, 14, ...9, 8h43m). And finally the time before sunset is indicated by the black lines.

Album	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Chaudon, Ubaye, Alpes de Haute-Provence, 04, France	6.487362384796143	44.40082811823358

Chaudon 1

This dial is hidden between the grape vines. It is a very simple dial, with just some hour- and half hourlines. These lines have been continued above the gnomon for artistic purposes and show thus the solar rays.

Album	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Chaudon, Ubaye, Alpes de Haute-Provence, 04, France	6.4867401123046875	44.40110407024591

St. Chapelle en Valgaudemar

A nice simple sundial with hourlines 5 to 2 o’clock. It has been created in 1975. The imagery reminds of the high mountains of that village. The motto reads “Tuer le temps ou vivre l’instant”, which translates to “Kill the time or life now”.

Album	Location	Longitude	Latitude
	Mairie, St. Chapelle, Valgaudemar, Hautes-Alpes (05), France	6.194314956665039	44.81659587023684