Sundials are amongst the oldest timekeepers to be found anywhere. The oldest preserved timepiece of this type is just under 3,500 years old and dates from the period when Thutmosis III was the ruler of Egypt. Anyone who thinks that these astronomical instruments are not accurate is mistaken. Technically speaking they indeed show the true time of the locality and, depending on the locality, this may only deviate from central European time by a few minutes – on account of the elliptical orbit of the earth and the inclination of the earth’s axis.

To use the position of the sun for showing the time of day is a science in itself. Anyone wishing to make a sundial needs a sound knowledge of mathematics.

The demonstrably oldest Island chronometer, which depends on the sun, is to be found in Artà. This one dates from the year 1624. "There  could indeed be much older ones", points out Serra, "as we refer here solely to sun dials with date inscription." Inciden- tally, Mallorca has the second highest density of sundials in Europe, with 0.23 dials per square kilometer. This is only exceeded by Cuneo in Italy with 0.26 dials per square kilometer.

The fact that the Balearic Islands boasts so many dials – primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries – may well be due to the fine weather. For if the sun does not shine, no shadow caster is able to show the time. After all, the sundials only count the hours of sunlight. At any rate, the fact remains that here there lived a number of committed gnomonicists, who studded Mallorca with sundials. One of these was Fray Miquel, Bruder Michael (1741-1803), from Petra, a nephew of the founder of San Fransisco, Fray Junípero Serra. He had 25 sundials made solely on Mallorca, and at least one on Ibiza.

Sundials are not only fascinating in themselves but a valuable cultural heritage also, thinks Joan Serra. However: the island council makes no efforts whatsoever to conserve these old chronometers. In the process they are left largely to the transience of fate, many of them being exposed day by day to the elements; dials often depicted on chalk, fade away, shadow casters rust and destroy the dials. "The politicians must devote the same attention to them as to our mills", says Serra, "before they are lost forever."