In many countries,
Kilometre Zero (also written
km 0) or similar terms in other languages, is a particular location (often in the nation's capital city), from which distances are traditionally measured. A similar notion also exists for individual roads (that is, all locations on the road have a number, depending on their distance from that location), and for individual cities (often the city's central post office is used for this).
The most famous such marker of which any part survives from ancient times is the
Milliarium Aureum ("Golden Milestone") of the
Roman Empire, believed to be the literal origin for the maxim that "
all roads lead to Rome."
Countries
Argentina
Argentina marks Klometre Zero with a monolith in
Plaza Congreso in
Buenos Aires. The work of the brothers Máximo and
José Fioravanti, the structure was placed on the north side of Plaza Lorea on October 2, 1935; it was moved to its present location on May 18, 1944. An image of
Our Lady of Luján (honored on the monolith as "the
patron saint of the national road network") appears on the monolith's north face, a relief map of Argentina is on the south face, plaques in honor of
José de San Martín are west, and on its eastern side, the date of the decree and the name of the relevant authorities.
Australia
Highways in Australia are usually built and maintained by the
states and territories. In the state of
New South Wales, highway distances (
mileage) were traditionally measured...
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