What time is it? (2) - A sun-dial

There are some landmarks which could serve as sun-dials. The obelisk on Place de la Concorde is one of them. The obelisk, which was transported to France and erected here with the great technical difficulties that you can imagine, in 1836, is one of the two that were given to (not quite “stolen by”) France. Fortunately, one of the pair finally remained where it should be, in Egypt and in front of the Ramses II Luxor temple.

Just before World War I, someone came up with the idea to use this needle to create a sun-dial, but because of the war the idea was never finalised. The same idea came up just before World War II, with the same result. And, then again in 1999, there was a new try.

I recently happened to read about this sun-dial idea. I had never noticed it, so I went back to check. Looking on the pavement, the result doesn't seem very satisfactory. The lines which have been traced seem not to have resisted very well, are hardly visible and - at least according to my watch - the time indicated was not correct, even taking into account the “summer time” and the one hour difference.

Maybe the whole thing should at last be done properly? ... and what about the Eiffel tower?

There is also a small mystery: Along one of the lines, obviously from the second try in 1938, there is a small copper plate with the inscription “Au levant de Thèbes surgit à Paris le Nord”, which is difficult to translate or even to understand in French. I managed to find a blog, where some experts have tried to interpret the text. There could possibly be a reference to the rising of Thebes and the (more recent) rising of Paris in the north, but no clear explanation seems to have been found. Maybe you can come up with it?