Monuments – Republic of Moldova

Did you know there is a monument in the Republic of Moldova that connects the Arctic Ocean with the Black Sea?

The Struve Geodetic Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through ten countries and over 2,820 km. It relates to Sir Isaac Newton’s theory that the world is not an exact sphere.

These triangulations are the points of a survey carried out between 1816 and 1855 by several scientists (surveyors) led by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which was the first accurate measurement of a long segment of a meridian.

Struve, who was working at the Dorpat University (now the University of Tartu in Estonia), decided to establish an arc following a line of longitude (meridian) passing through the university observatory. The new long arc, later known as the Struve Geodetic Arc, was eventually created by joining earlier, shorter arcs to the southern arc measured by Tenner and extending them north and south.

The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points. The listed site includes 34 of the original station points, with various markings including drilled holes and cross-shaped engraved marks in rock surfaces, rock structures (cairns) and constructed obelisks.

Bonus Trivia!

• As determining the size and shape of the world has been one of the major problems of natural philosophy since at least the 4^th century BC, the Struve Geodetic Arc marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographical mapping.
• The Arc is an extraordinary example of the exchange of human values in the form of international scientific collaboration, as well as an outstanding example of a technological ensemble.
• In 2005, this transboundary monument was inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage List of cultural sites.

Sources and photographs taken from: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1187/

Photograph No 1: Struve Geodetic Arc © UNESCO | Francesco Bandarin

Photograph No 2: Struve Geodetic Arc © UNESCO | Vesna Vujicic-Lugassy

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