Nebra Ark
The captivating world of the Nebra Sky Disk

The Nebra Ark multimedia visitors' centre, opened at the foot of Mittelberg hill in 2007, offers a wealth of insight into the Nebra Sky Disk, the oldest known visual representation of the visible cosmos. The disk is widely regarded as the most important Bronze Age find ever to be discovered and is a unique record of European cultural history.

The Nebra Sky Disk is a Bronze Age disk with gold inlays apparently depicting astronomical phenomena and symbols of religious themes. Today, an exceptional landscaped attraction surrounds the place where the discovery was originally made on the Mittelberg hill plateau. The 30-metre-high observation tower, which is styled on a sun dial, affords views of Mount Brocken and the myth-enshrouded Kyffhäuser hills in the distance.

At the foot of Mittelberg hill, the multimedia visitors' centre unravels the mysteries of the Nebra Sky Disk, which was found in 1999 in Wangen near Nebra. Its depictions take you back 3,600 years to the time of Bronze Age astrologers. The exciting exhibitions at the Nebra Ark bring to life the fascinating history of the sky disk in a way that everyone can understand and enjoy - beginning with a detailed look at how it was made and ending with its burial.

The Nebra Sky Disk was used as a calendar and also - by means of its constellations - to determine favourable dates for the cultivation of land, for which the Pleiades cluster was particularly important. It offers an indication of how much people read into the position of heavenly bodies thousands of years ago. In the golden barge, the centrepiece of the Nebra Ark site, visitors can enjoy an exhibition that is as captivating as the sky disk itself. Under the dome of the planetarium, an impressive digital presentation reveals how people saw the sky some 3,600 years ago and how the sky disk was used. Dramatic visual sequences help to explain the complex relationships between the sun, moon and stars that are encoded into the disk.
The Nebra Ark offers activity programmes for children and wheelchair access. It is open daily except for Mondays between November and March and on 24 December. Guided tours are available.


Contact:
E-Mail: info@himmelsscheibe-erleben.de
Internet: http://www.himmelsscheibe-erleben.de/