Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
At its northern edge, west of the RER station, the path runs alongside the Bvd
Jourdan. Near the meteorological station stands a 12 meter high obelisk with a
circular hole at its top. This is a sighting column (
mire
) constructed in 1706 during
the rule of Napoleon as a reference point to calibrate the telescope used to define
the Paris Meridian. The target reference mechanism was mounted in the metal
framework in the circular hole.
DU REGNE
DE
[NAPOLEON I - the name has been removed]
MIRE
DE
L'OBSERVATOIRE
MDCCVI.
(In the reign of Napoleon I, the sight of the Observatory, 1706).
The column is about 50 meters or 5 park benches west of the meridian (Arago
medallion Number 13 is mounted in the middle of the pathway). In addition, an
observatory operated in the park from the second half of the eighteenth century for
the purpose of making observations of interest to the French navy such as positions
of navigational stars and the moon, magnetic observations, etc.
Medallions Numbers 14-20 line up across the network of the paths of the park.
The northwest exit from the Park is located by a gate into Av. Reille and Av. Rene
Coty. The gate-keeper's hut stands inside the park to the right of the exit. In front
is Arago medallion Number 21.
The meridian runs northwards towards the Observatory, right of Av. Rene Coty.
There are no medallions on this section but the meridian is marked by
le Parking
de la Méridienne
and the
Villa de la Méridienne
. Medallion Number 23 is within
sight of the Observatory and the plinth for a statue of the astronomer François
Arago in Rue du Faubourg St. Jacques. The statue is now gone, removed for scrap
during the Second World War.
Observatoire de Paris
The plinth for the Arago statue is in the Pl. Île-de-Sein, crossed by the Boulevard
Arago. Two-hundred and fifty meters east along the Bvd Arago are the high blank
walls of the Prison de la Santé; outside the prison the guillotine was erected for the
public execution of criminals. Further along the Bvd Arago at Number 53 and on the
corner of the Rue de la Glacière in the café-tabac, are murals by A. Sauvage of a
young and heroic Arago, cloaked, standing with his hand on a terrestrial globe.
Across the Pl. Île-de-Sein and beyond the empty plinth of his statue are the gates of
the observatory gardens. There is a medallion just outside the gates (Number 29).
Through the gates of the Jardin de l'Observatoire the meridian is marked in
stone, running towards the main and original observatory building. North of the
stone strip, beyond the railings, there is a number of Arago disks mounted in the
