| Region | Town | Location | Latitude | Longitude | ||||
| France |
Gard
|
Tavel Nord
|
La Nef Solaire
de Tavel
|
44°01' N |
4° 43' E | |||
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This huge structure, shaped rather like a ship or a cathedral, makes this sculpture the biggest sundial, up until now. It consists of four "sails", of white concrete, joined together with the highest point at about 54 ft. The total weight of the "sails" is in the order of 240 tons. Furthermore, the Nave is also a particularly interesting work of art as far as sundials are concerned because of its originality ( five dials fitted in with two gnomons), which makes for the theory to be complicated. Despite the difficulty of the building the Nave, ( the heavy weight of the sails and the gnomons, the difficulty in designing the sundials, requiring exact positions of each of the different structures, the restricting the work area so as to preserve the site's environment) , the shadow tells the times to within 30 seconds |
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| The photos and text, ( French translation , loosely, by myself ) taken , courtesy of Jean-Claude Maurin , webmaster for Regional Education Inspectors, Montpellier, France. For a detailed description of the Tavel Sun Nave, with many other photos, click here | ||