True treasures of the Southern Alps, the popular art of sundials is very present in the villages of Tinée.
Sundials are present in the villages of St Etienne de Tinée de St Dalmas Le Selvage but also in hamlets such as Le Bourguet, Douans, Roya or La Blache.
Nowadays more decorative than useful, the primary function of a sundial is to materialize and punctuate time. Sundials are time measuring instruments that use the path of the sun in the sky to give the local time.
Some dials are rich in painted decorations but there are dials with wooden supports, stone or slate slabs fixed on the facades of houses.
On these dials we also find the date, the hour numbers and the motto written in French or Latin or even in the local dialect "le gavouot". This motto can be moral or philosophical but they all have a relationship to the sun or to the passing of time.
Come and discover these jewels that light up the facades of the villages and hamlets of Haute Tinée!