Prince's Garden

The Prinsentuin is a Renaissance garden in the city center of Groningen. It is located behind the Prinsenhof, a building from the 11th century. The garden was created in 1626 on the orders of stadholder Willem Frederik and his wife Albertine Agnes. The adjacent Prinsenhof had become the local residence of the Princes of Nassau since 1594.

The garden includes, among other things, a rose garden, an herb garden, and an area with arbours. In one of the five beds of the garden, boxwood hedges have been planted in the shape of crowned letters W and A, the initials of Willem Frederik and Albertine Agnes. The garden is bounded by a high wall on the side of the Turfsingel.

In the wall on the Turfsingel is the Sundial Gate, dating from 1731, which was restored in 1953. The gate derives its name from the sundial that is placed above it.

Above the sundial is a Latin text. The words "Tempus Præteritum Nihil Futurum Incertum. Præsens Instabile Cave Ne Perdas Hoc Tuum" can be translated as "The past time is nothing, the future uncertain, the present unstable. Take care that you do not squander yours." The gnomon, the stick that extends forward from the depicted sun, casts its shadow on the various times indicated on the sundial.

On the outer edge of the sundial, the local time is displayed. This local time was maintained until the mid-nineteenth century. After that, time was standardized across the Netherlands. The Roman numerals indicate the full hours, and the framing with small digits shows the minutes. When the sun is at its highest point, it is twelve o'clock. The local time is on average 34 minutes ahead of Central European time. In November, it runs 18 minutes ahead, and in February, 54 minutes. During daylight saving time, an additional hour is added.

The gnomon has a thickening. Its shadow falls on a number of golden lines that indicate the length of the days. The red lines show how long the sun has shone. These are the Babylonian hours, in which time is measured from sunrise. The black lines indicate the Italian hours. This counting indicates the number of hours from sunset.

Wandeloverzicht