Stonehenge Aotearoa

About

Stonehenge Aotearoa, is one of the largest astronomical installations in New Zealand, an open-sky observatory inspired by and built on a similar scale to the famous Stonehenge in England. The henge is a modern adaptation, inspired by the many stone circles and henges scattered around the world. Stonehenge Aotearoa is designed specifically for its location in Wairarapa region of New Zealand's North Island. Following the closure of the US Naval Observatory’s Black Birch station in the mid‑1990s, some of the site’s equipment — including the observatory dome — was transferred to New Zealand astronomer Gordon Hudson and the newly formed The Phoenix Astronomical Society (TPAS). These assets, together with government funding and volunteer labour organised by TPAS, supported the construction of Stonehenge Aotearoa, completed in 2005 as a non-profit educational astronomical facility. A government grant from MoRST, administered by the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Science & Technology Promotion Fund, supported the construction of Stonehenge Aotearoa, supplementing the significant volunteer time of approximately 150 society members. The henge, built over 2 years, was opened on 12 February 2005 by Nobel Laureate Professor Alan MacDiarmid. Stonehenge Aotearoa was built using hollow wooden and cement board structures, which were then coated with cement and sculpted plaster to resemble he

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.