“Hard Rock and Heavy Metal”

Bavarian sundial, 1719

It would be easy to walk past the Adler’s new sundials exhibition without glancing twice. It’s not that the 15-plus medieval time-telling gizmos aren’t remarkable—in fact, each draws the eye with its colorful ornamentation or quirky mechanics. The exhibition’s problem instead could be blamed on real estate: What it lacks is location, location, location.

Displayed in the lower-level History of Astronomy gallery, the thoughtfully curated selection of astronomy tools from the Adler’s esteemed Mensing Collection is just plain hard to find (four Adler staffers merely shrugged when asked for directions). A small placard in a corner is the only clue that you’ve arrived. To the left, an unassuming glass case holds about six of the special show’s sundials—all crafted from stone and metal, which is where the “hard rock” and “heavy metal” come in. The rest of the sundials, as the understated sign says, can be found “further into” the gallery.

The pieces in the glass display each tell fantastic back stories if, of course, you’re savvy enough to pick up and read the laminated display card from the case’s base. A Rube Goldberg–like French sundial from 1800, for example, is capable of using a magnifying glass to fire a working miniature cannon at noon. Nearby, a German horizontal sundial from 1719 is intricately inscribed with the names of at least 366 saints. According to the display card, some of the sundials even contain chronograms, or secret codes inscribed in Roman numerals that reveal the exact date the pieces were made.

Small Easter eggs like these abound in the exhibition. One of the most notable surprises is a large red button on the placard: In small type, it instructs visitors to push it for a sample of the exhibition’s specially commissioned theme song, a buzzy guitar number titled “Going Native” by Luke Nowak of Letters of Fire. It’s a good work—if you can find it.

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