Mire du Sud

The Mire du Sud is a four-meter-tall stone stele topped with a perforated cylindrical oculus, standing within the grounds of Parc Montsouris. Designed by the architect Antoine Vaudoyer and built in eighteen oh six, this monument originally occupied a place in the gardens of the Paris Observatory. Astronomers of the time used the precise stone structure to calibrate their instruments, such as the quarter-circle, as they worked to define the Paris meridian.