Kraków Prime Meridian
Posted by: Groundspeak Regular Member MrMeridian2000
N 50° 03.837 E 019° 57.354
34U E 425272 N 5546263
Kraków Prime Meridian. One of the oldest prime meridians in the world. Used in astronomy till the end of XIV century. It's been used by famous Polish astronomer, Nikolas Copernicus. It runs through the old astronomical observatory building in Kraków.
Waymark Code: WM128NB
Location: Małopolskie, Poland
Date Posted: 03/30/2020
Published By:Groundspeak Premium Member Go Boilers!
Views: 5

The Krakow Meridian is a forgotten, great geographic and astronomic object, similar to Greenwich or Paris meridian! For the first time Krakow meridian appears in 1379 in astronomical tables created in Jagiellonian University of Kraków, as a re-calculations of famous Alfontinians tables; soon there were made many, original astronomical tables calculated on Krakow meridian. It has been used in one of the most famous scientific works in the history - Nicolaus Copernicus "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" from 1543 - as a basic meridian for his astronomical calculation. Krakow meridian appears also at some maps of Polish Kingdom, like the map of Moithey Maurielle Antoine from 1787 or plan of Krakow city from 1836 made by Teofil Zebrawski. Formally it has been erected by Jan Sniadecki, great astronomer, and geographer who has established the first astronomical observatory in Kraków in 1792, through which has run the Krakow Prime Meridian. Since that moment, Krakow meridian has been used for almost 150 years in astronomy, cartography. Since 2012, a geodesic educational action 'Honorary Krakow Meridian' fights for restoration of this meridian, to bring back a knowledge about its great history and make from it an awesome touristic attraction. Meridian runs through the center of old astronomical observatory building in botanic garden in Krakow. It runs through very characteristic column in garden's wall from the Copernicus Street side.
Line type: Historical meridian

If other type, please explain.: Prime meridian

Tolerance: 0.1"

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