ASTRONOMIC OBSERVATORY OF GAIA

In Gaia, high up on Monte da Virgem, there is a discreet Astronomical Observatory with a lot to teach.
Created in 1948 to complement the Astronomy studies at the Faculty of Science, it took nine years before its most remarkable instrument was opened: the Meridian Mirror Circle.
It is a curious piece of equipment, so rare that there are only two in the entire world, it's installed in a semi-cylindrical building whose top slides open to allow precise observation of the passage of stars through the local meridian.
What were the two telescopes for then? And what are they for now?
Come and admire its unusual beauty and understand how time has been measured throughout time!