Not so long ago, about two centuries ago, the unit of measurement we know today as the meter did not yet exist. To this end, in 1790, in France, they proposed standardizing the decimal metric system and then making it universal. So far, everything is easy to understand. Now, what would they base their decision on? And this is where the remains of this cabin come into play.

To achieve this, they had to triangulate from an imaginary line, starting in Dunkirk and heading south. Before I forget, this imaginary line is the 0th meridian of Greenwich. So that the measurement would not be exclusively French, they crossed the Pyrenees, passing through Catalonia, the Valencian Community, and the Balearic Islands.

A meter is one ten-millionth of the distance between the geographic North Pole and the Earth's equator. (1791)

As you can see from the map above, this project was enormous. Three expeditions took place in our region. Two of them were here on our mountain. The first, in 1803, brought the scientist Pierre François André Méchain. He climbed to the summit of Montgó and recorded its altitude at 758.94 meters. Shortly after, he died of malaria in the family home of Fausto Valles, a man from Pobla Tornesa. The third and final expedition took place between 1806 and 1808. The work Méchain was unable to complete was taken over by two scientists from the same region, François Aragó and Jean-Baptiste Biot.

The mountain visible from Ibiza.

They both went to this island first. They wanted to see which peninsular mountain was best visible from there. At first, they thought it was Mount Cullera, but once they arrived, they realized it was Montgó. So in 1806, they approached our coast to climb it.

Once they reached the summit, they realized it wasn't a very good place to build anything, due to the strong winds that frequently blow. They stayed there for several months. Then, from the summit, they descended north towards La Creueta de Dénia. They found a perfect spot for triangulation halfway up, and that's where the remains are located today in the municipality of Javea.

 

Triangulations were then carried out using mirrors and lights. The coldest and clearest nights of the year illuminated it, and the lightning reflected off Mount Carmel in Ibiza and the Desert of Palms in Benicassim. These lights were used by scientists to record measurements.