Struve Geodetic Arc World Heritage Site

Official name
Struve Geodetic Arc | UNESCO
Country
Belarus | Map
Continent
Europe
Location
59.5770° Lat, 26.3377° Lon | Map
Code
1187
Time Zone
Europe/Minsk (+03, +0300)
Current Time
Category
Cultural
Description
Inscribed 2005. The Struve Arc is a chain of survey triangulations stretching from Hammerfest in Norway to the Black Sea, through 10 countries and over 2,820 km. These are points of a survey, carried out between 1816 and 1855 by the astronomer Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, which represented the first accurate measuring of a long segment of a meridian. This helped to establish the exact size and shape of the planet and marked an important step in the development of earth sciences and topographic mapping. It is an extraordinary example of scientific collaboration among scientists from different countries, and of collaboration between monarchs for a scientific cause. The original arc consisted of 258 main triangles with 265 main station points. The listed site includes 34 of the original station points, with different markings, i.e. a drilled hole in rock, iron cross, cairns, or built obelisks.