Gregorian Tower

The Tower of the Winds (Italian: Torre dei Venti, even Torre Gregorian ) refers to parts of the former Vatican Observatory in the Vatican City, which was built in the north of the Vatican Gardens of the Bolognese architect Ottaviano Mascherino.

The construction in 1578 by Pope Gregory XIII. initiated which used the observatory for astronomical observations of his calendar reform. 1580 of the 73 m high tower was completed. Due to the extensions and connecting corridors for the Vatican Museums, the observatory was built in the 17th century in the west wing of the Pontifical Library, as northern boundary of the corridor Pirro Ligorio of exhibition space, it is now the museums.

The colloquial name " Tower of the Winds " comes probably from the fact that it is next to astronomical research and observations also came to study the wind speeds and directions here. A weather vane on the roof transferred the wind direction to a pointer inside the tower ( no longer works today). Today is the Vatican Observatory in Castel Gandolfo and the United States.

Sala della Meridiana

1579 decorated Niccolò Circignani and Mathijs Bril the Sala della Meridiana in the first floor. The hall is on the meridian is a straight line in a north-south direction, which in 1580 inlaid with white marble in the floor named after. Through a hole in Niccolò Circignani fresco Jesus stills the storm on the south wall of the midday sun casts light on this meridian, which was used for the measurement of the sun at noon in the respective seasons..