Štefánikovo Square in Kremnica. (source: Sme - Ján Krošlák)
A HISTORICAL meteorological column that was disassembled and taken away from the upper part of Štefánikovo Square, Kremnica’s main square, in the second half of the 20th century can now be admired again. “Now that it is possible to draw financial resources from the funds of the European Commission the meteorological column has been reconstructed, and the original machines repaired, by employees of the Slovak Hydrometeorology Institute (SHMÚ),” the press secretary to the town of Kremnica, Silver Jurtinus, told the TASR newswire.
The SHMÚ employees who reconstructed the square column at their workplace in Bratislava handed it over to representatives of Kremnica at the end of last year. Its renewal cost €8,000.
“It contains a historical pressure-measuring device called an aneroid that is about 60 years old and is of domestic origin. On the side, there is a hygroscope, which is about 100 years old, with a ceramic face that is used to measure humidity,” Dušan Jakubík of the SHMÚ explained. He added that the hygroscope was made by a major German company.
Jurtinus said that the hygroscope and barometer are both original, but that the thermometer on the meteorological column is a copy. Jakubík added that they decided to reconstruct the column out of enthusiasm, to preserve a memorable part of history.
“It is a beautiful historical device, and mining towns used to have machines like this,” he said. Kremnica was historically one of the centres of Slovak mining.
The machine is not just a decoration. Everybody who walks through the central square of Kremnica can tell at any time what the current temperature, humidity, or air pressure is. The meteorological column was originally installed in the first half of the 20th century (no precise records have been found) in the upper part of Štefánikovo Square. After it was removed the measuring devices were deposited at the local town office.
