This month’s ‘Spot a Clock’ is the Armillary Sphere at Wisconsin Memorial Park, the cemetery located at 13235 West Capitol Drive in Brookfield. Wisconsin Memorial Park was founded in 1929.
Fountains, statues and other artistic features can be found throughout the grounds. The Garden of the Apostles was the first garden crypt area in the state. It was developed in 1956 and includes four original bronze statues, each of which is eight feet tall and weighs 2,000 pounds.
Sundials, symbolic of the timelessness of the heavens, are a common fixture in cemeteries. This Armillary Sphere is located in the northeastern portion of the grounds. Related to Equatorial Sundials, an Armillary Sphere is designed to represent the celestial sphere. Like all Armillary Spheres, this one displays the hours of the day along its equator, and casts a shadow with a gnomon oriented parallel with the Earth’s axis. It includes the Arctic and Antarctic Circles. More or-nate versions often include the plane of the ecliptic with zodiac symbols, and the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.
