Sundial 1154
- Dial City: San Juan
- Dial State/Province: Peurto Rico
- Dial Country: USA
- Lat: 18° 27.844' N
- Dial Nr: 1154
- Dial Type: Vertical Dial
- Dial Access: Public
- Lon: 66° 07.163' W
- Dial Owner: Governor of Puerto Rico
- Dial Designer: under rule of Fernando de la Riva
- Dial Maker: under rule of Fernando de la Riva
- Dial Date: circa 1645
- Location:
- On the South-West tower of La Fortaleza Officially named “El Palacio de Santa Catalina de Alejandría” (the Palace of St. Catherine of Alexandria) 63 Calle de la Fortaleza, San Juan, Puerto Rico
- Description:
- Four vertical dials on a large granite cube, capped by a roof and weather vane. The cube is painted white, the dial gnomons and hour lines, black. The hour lines are delineated every 20 minutes and hour marks in Roman numerals. Fro Sebastian Robiou-Lamarch in "Sundials in the Antilles": "Around 1645, under the rule of Fernando de la Riva y Aguero, a sundial was installed near the austral tower of La Fortaleza, which by that date was firmly set as the governor’s official residence. The sundial was constructed on four faces of a large rock cube set on a column. This four direct vertical pillar dial was crowned with a weather vane. No documentary evidence has been found for the origin of La Fortaleza dial; it probably was not locally constructed, but came from Spain. Westward Spanish ships needed lots of ballast, and this would have made an interesting cargo. It would be interesting to match the rock of the dial to Spanish quarries to see if this hypothesis is correct. However, there can be no doubt that this sundial was the first to be erected in the Antilles and was probably the second sundial of the New World."
Last Update:
2026-07-11 22:07:02