Surveyor Dragon
Dragon Trail
The dragon stands next to Primary School No. 29 in Podgórze. The Kraków Zero Meridian runs nearby.
History
The Surveyor Dragon stands by Primary School No. 29 at 12 Dembowskiego Avenue. It peers through a total station set up on a tripod like an experienced surveyor. The spot is no accident: Kraków's prime meridian, known as the Polish Greenwich, runs through the school. One of the oldest prime meridians in the world, it was used by Nicolaus Copernicus while working on "On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres". A post called a mira once stood here on the meridian line. Astronomers at the observatory in the botanical garden aligned their telescopes with it, and surveyors used it to fix coordinates in Podgórze.
Did you know?
The Surveyor Dragon was the first to join the Wawel Dragon. The meridian is marked on the pavement 60 metres east of the figure.