Ottoman Sundial:     Misssouri Botanical Garden

Ottoman Sundial Images   Abraham and Roger   Ottoman Garden   Ottoman Sundial  "Ottoman Sundials" NASS Conference, 3 MB PowerPoint presentation Links: Missouri Botanical Garden Abraham Mohler, Sculptor Joel Robic: Sundial of the Month

One of the sundials featured at the Missouri Botanical Garden in St Louis Missouri is an Ottoman Sundial in their Ottoman Garden. This garden contains many species of plants and flowers that originated in Turkey and were introduced to the west during the time of the Ottoman Empire. The sundial is patterned after the famous dial at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The dial features two gnomons and four different time systems. The outer scale utilizes the polar gnomon and shows western hours based on noon. The inner dial uses a small vertical gnomon to show Ezanic hours: Babylonian hours based on sunrise, Italian hours based on sunset and Moslem prayer times, Zuhr and Asr. The Ottoman dial was designed by Roger Bailey and carved by a St Louis sculptor, Abraham Mohler. The dial was initially oriented to the polar axis but later repositioned to align with the axis of the garden about 9º off the polar axis. The dial was redesigned and rebuilt to show correct solar times. The Ezanic hours and gnomons remain on the polar axis while the scale for the western hours was realigned to fit the dial plate.