Sundials stamps in Israel

During 2014 I had a unique experience - taking part in the design of a new series of stamps. I received a phone call from the Israeli postal service who contacted me after reading my article about sundials in Israel. Although I am not an academic expert on the matter, I gladly agreed to help.

As it turned out, issuing stamps is a serious matter. In Israel, the process requires a government decision, and after the decision is approved a long process begins. The first phase is to decide on a concept for the series, how may stamps there will be and what will be the connection between them. There are many sundials types and my original idea was to choose a sundial which was significant to the religion and used in a synagogue, a sundial to symbolize the value of hard work ("The day is short and the work is great") and a modern sundial which is more an element of design in an urban surrounding.

There were other suggestions and there were some political issues as well and the final decision was to show the development of the sundials over different periods and do this in only three stamps.

After that it was a hard task to decide which specific sundials to present. There are wonderful sundials which are not suitable for the format of a small stamp since it is impossible to see the small details and engravings, and this is also a factor. Following this, I worked with the stamps' designer, David Ben Hador. The designer wanted to include the sun in the stamp but when looking at a sundial the sun is usually behind the watcher, so there was no attempt to have the hour in the sundial match the sun position, but still our goal was to allow some freedom to the designer and maintain the best realistic sundial as possible.

After the design of the stamps there is a need to design the envelope, the leaflet, the first day postal stamp, choose a verse, write the text in the pamphlet and so on. This is the final and in my humble opinion, great, result (the values are from the last draft and are not the actual values of the stamps)

Sundials in Israel -Ancient Jewish Quarter Jerusalem

Sundials in Israel - Zoharei Chamma Synagogue Jerusalem

Sundials in Israel - Jezzar Mosque Acre

Sundials in Israel - day of issue envelope

New sundial and planets model in Givaataim

I am very enthusiastic about sundials and even helped the Israeli postal service to design a series of stamps about sundials in the past. Therefore, I was very happy to be invited to the inauguration of a new sundial in Israel. The sundial is located in "Gan-Haaliya" in Givaataim (Golomb st.) in a large garden surrounding the city observatory and is dedicated to the memory of Tal Izsak who was one of the guides in the observatory.

The sundial was built by the designer and artist Yoav Shavit with technical consultation by Eden Orion (both sites are in Hebrew). It is a challenge to make new kinds of sundial but it is still possible, at first glance this array of poles don't look like a sundial at all!

But the picture becomes clear as you get nearer. Each pole is directed towards a different spot in the sky and when the sun reaches that spot a shadow with the correct hour will appear on the grass below. Here is the hour eleven.

Eleven o'clock

A few words about Tal before we will go on with the clock. Tal Izsak (23.06.1981 - 12.09.2012) was one of the guides in the local observatory and volunteered in the Israel Astronomical Association (IAA). I met Tal during a public observation in 2007 when I was a newbie and just stood beside him to understand how to operate a telescope. Here is a photo of Tal during an observation. Tal was always happy with a big smile, taking care of the telescope and ready to explain everything to the observers- children and adults.

Tal Iszak. Photo: Ella Ratz

The special design of the sundial (which is called a time field) causes some overlapping between the hours and at 11:30 you will see partial shade from both the 11 pole and the 12 pole. The purpose of the time field is not to give an accurate measurement of the time, but as many modern sundials are, to be a design-element in the urban area.

Here is the hour 11 from below

hour 11 o'clock from below

A partial shade of 10 means that we are already past 10

A partial shade of 10

The time field

A bit later at 12

12 o'clock

12 o'clock

And here is the artist next to his work

Yoav Shavit and the time field

The time field is just the first part of the dedication project. From the time field area and along a 200 meter path a model of the solar system was built. The big half circle in the photo above is actually the sun and each meter along the path represents 45 million KM in the solar system. In the relative distance of the planets a concrete pillar with some details about the planet was placed. Here is a photo for the Earth pillar. The small circle in the top of the column is the relative size of the earth to the sun. The concrete for each pillar was created specifically with the correct and required colors. The pillars are not painted, the concrete itself is with the right color.

The pillar for planet Earth

The new time field and planets path are great examples of how to add scientific elements to our urban surrounding. If you happen to be in the area, pop over and take a look.

Sundials in Salzburg

Probably when you head the word "Salzburg" you will either think about Mozart or the film "the sounds of Music", but will all due respect to those subject I looked for other things in this beautiful city, and mainly for sundials (And see my article about sundials in Israel as well).
Sundials are not very practical in Salzburg where the sun is mostly behind clouds, so most of them are used for aesthetic and artistic purposes. I found five different sundials in my last visit and If you know about mores, please add a comment.


The first sundial is in St Peter's abbey

Sundial in Salzburg

The two following are in the yard of Hohensalzburg (Salzburg's castle). The first one is showing the hour only in the morning.

Sundial in Salzburg

Sundial in Salzburg

Back to the city, these two clock are near each other in the area surrendering Mozartplatz. The sun went out of the clouds for about twenty minutes which was enough to photograph both sundials with a shadow which shows the hour.

Sundial in Salzburg

Sundial in Salzburg

Sundials in Israel

Sundials were a very important mean in the past to measure and show the time. Today, sundials are regarded more as architectural and design artifacts. Most sundials contain a gnomon which is usually a rod which casts a shadow, and a table which shows the time. There are various types of sundials, simple and complex, and they can be very accurate. This article will show some examples of the many sundials that can be found around Israel.

For a tourist, one of the best places to look for sundials is the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel-Aviv. The museum has a yard with replicas of ten sundials, old and new, from several places around Israel. Also, there is a planetarium in the museum which you should visit.

Sundial - Acre

Sundial - Acre

A replica of an ancient sundial

Ancient sundial - Israel

The Curved sundial does not have a gnomon, the entire shape of the sundial is the gnomon and it casts a shadow on the curved area. Such a sundial is good only for half of the day, so there is a need for more than one (which is on the other side of the stone).

An interesting Sundial on Bat Galim beach in Haifa. Notice the different of the width between the hours in the scale.

Sundial - Haifa

A replica of a Sundial from Jaffa.

Sundial - Jaffa

 An interesting mosaic Sundial in Kfar Masaryk (Near Acre)

Sundial - Kfar Masaryk

On the western wall of the great synagogue in Petach-Tikva there are 3 sundials (All have replicas in Eretz Israel Museum). As they are on the west wall they can only be used in the second half of the day.

Sundial - Petach-Tikva synagogue

Sundial - Petach-Tikva synagogue

Sundial - Petach-Tikva synagogue

 העתקי השעונים נמצאים גם במוזיאון ארץ ישראל

Sundial - Petach-Tikva synagogue - Replica

 Also in Petach Tikva, in the Twelve Tribes park, a mosaic sundial.

Sundial - Petach Tikva - Twelve tribes park

Sundial - Petach Tikva - Twelve Tribes park

Sundial - Petach Tikva - Twelve Tribes park

 The largest sundial in Israel is in Rishon Lezion (Moshe Dayan street)

Sundial - Rishon Lezion

Sundial - Rishon Lezion

 Going north again to Shomrat (Near Acre), an impressive sundial which has an "environmental" problem... The sundial is in the shade most of the day

Sundial in Shomrat

 A rather new type of sundial is the one without a gnomon at all. You are the gnomon and you need to stand along the middle line next to the relevant date (see the dates in the third photo). These sundials have become more and more common across the world. The sundial is in Eretz Israel Museum Tel Aviv

Sundial - Eretz Israel Museum Tel Aviv

Sundial - Eretz Israel Museum Tel Aviv - When you stand on it, your shadow shows the time

Sundial - Eretz Israel Museum Tel Aviv - Notice the various lines for the dates in the year.

A most impressive park in Israel Ramat Hanadiv, is in memory of Baron Rothschild and is located near Zichron Yaakov.

Sundial in Ramat Hanadiv Zichron Yaakov

In Jerusalem there are several sundials. Here is one of them, the courtesy of Yoav Avnion

Sundial on a synagouge wall, Jerusalem: Credit: Yoav Avnion

And another famous sundial in Jerusaelm in Yafo street near Machena Yehuda market on the wall of Zoharey Chama synagouge.

Sundial on a synagogue wall, Jerusalem: Credit: Yoav Avnion

שעון שמש עם פסוק משיר השירים
בחצר בית הספר האנגליקני ברחוב הנביאים 82 בירושלים
בית הספר האנגליקני תוכנן על ידי האדריכל ברספורד פייט והוקם בשנת 1897
תמונת CC שצילם והעלה לפליקר רון אלמוג ©

A sundial near the public library in Yerucham.

Sundial in Yerucham - Sefi Shalev

A very interesting sundial in the IDF officers academy near Mitzpe Ramon. The reflection of the dial rings is the hour,

Sundial in the IDF academy - Tom Rosenfeld

My friend, Eden Orion - An astronomer and artist - Designed and built two sundials. The first sundial is in Kornit in the memory of Ben Sela. You can read about Kornit's sundial here (In hebrew) and even if you can't read Hebrew you will see many more photos there.

Sundial in Kornit. Credit: Eden Orion

Another sundial designed by Eden (Only the astronomical feature) and  artistically designed and built by Yoav Shavit is in the national park of Ramat Gan. You can see many more photos and diagrams here (Also in Hebrew but Google translate does a fair job)

Sundial in Ramat-Gan. Credit: Eden Orion

Back to Jerusalem and to a new sundial by the old city walls created by the artist Maty Grunberg. The physical design was done by Ilan Manulis

Sundial in Teddy Park, Jerusalem. Naomi Azar

Yigal Zemer, an artist, designed and built many sundials in Israel. Here are some of his sundials.

Sundial in Beit-Shean's guest house, Yigal Zemer

Sundial in Rechovot, Yigal Zemer

Sundial in Mandelbaum pass, Jerusalem. Yigal Zemer

Sundial in Raanana. Yigal Zemer

A sundial can be part of a memorial monument like this sundial in Kedumim which is part of the memorial park to lt. Yishai Shechter.

Sundial in Kedumim. Credit: Shlomi liss

On the roof of Mitzpe Ramon visitor's center there is a very accurate sundials. The center is in memory of Ilan Ramon, the first Israel Astronaut who died in the Columbia disaster (PS: Ilan choose his last name to be Ramon because he liked the area, not vice-verse)

Sundial in Mitzpe Ramon. Anna Levin.

Sundial in Mitzpe Ramon. Anna Levin.

Sundials also symbolized the value of labor, and working in the files from sunrise to sunset. This sundial in Deganya (The first Kibbutz) represent this theme, The writing says: "The day is short and the labor is vast"

Sundial in Deganya. Saar Nudel

Sundial in Deganya. Saar Nudel

A unique time-field in Givatiim. Each pole shows the correct time when the sun is aligned with it.

Sundial at Givataaim

At the cave of the Patriacrhs in hebron there are old engravings which was used for sundial.

At the cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Photo: Amit Mendelson

A special sundials' garden in Ashqelon by the artist Yigal Tomarkin.

Sundials in Ashqelon: Photo: Avishay Taycher

A sundial with two gnomons (I am not sure which one is correct) is located in Tel-Azekah

Sundial in Tel-Azekah

The following sundial is located in the Lido's beach Ashdod. At first, it seems as a regular clock, and at the time I was there it was cloudy.

sundial in Ashdod

This sundial is at the summit of mount Tabor. Sadly as the clock is under shade it is not operational anymore, although you can see the subtle shade of the gnomon.

Sundial in Mt. Tabor - Photo by Muki zohar

There are more sundials in Israel, large and small, old and new. I will try and add more from time to time.

Also look at the following sites for sundials all over the world, I will be happy to add more just comment or send me a note.

• Sundials on the internet
• Sundials Atlas