Germany - Goseck: The oldest solar observatory in the world and its mystical history

Germany - Goseck: The oldest solar observatory in the world and its mystical history

Let us imagine that it is the year 4900 BCE.

No roads, no stone houses, no smartphones, no internet. Just the sky and us. And there, in a small village in central Germany, the first great achievement: a gigantic circular trench that decodes the course of the sun for mankind. The Solar observatory in Goseck. Almost 7,000 years old and still full of secrets.

We have a soft spot for stories in which people make the impossible possible - and Goseck is one of these stories. Back then, farmers lived here who were anything but uneducated. They knew that when the days got shorter and the cold came, you had to be prepared. But what if you don't have a clock or a calendar to tell you when that day is? You build a system so precisely aligned that you can not only feel but also see the shortest day of the year: the winter solstice. 

And what makes Goseck so special? It is the oldest observatory that we know of, and it was built with such precision that it is hard to believe.

It was a hot summer's day in 1991 when aerial archaeologist Otto Braasch noticed something strange during a flight over Goseck: a circular discolouration on the ground that was so regular that it could hardly have been created by chance. A few years later, the excavations begin and the history of this incredible place comes to light piece by piece. Archaeologists find ditches, ramparts and palisade rings. Everything is arranged in such a way that even back then you couldn't help but marvel: people had "held on to the sky" here.

But the finds tell even more. Cattle bones, carefully worked, and in three pits: human bones. Were sacrifices made here? Were there rituals that we can hardly imagine today? It would not be the first time in history that the connection between heaven and man has exacted a dark price. Perhaps Goseck was not only a place for observing the heavens, but also a place where the early farmers asked their gods for favour in order to master the cycles of nature.

2005 - The reconstruction of the complex is complete, the gates are aligned as they were 7,000 years ago. We could walk through, feel the sun rising on the winter solstice and push through the south-east gate. However, we are not there on the solstice, but on a hot summer's day. The precision with which this system works is still impressive today. And we, who are used to measuring time in numbers and minutes, stand there and feel the raw power of nature reminding us of its laws.

Goseck is not only an archaeological sensation, it is also part of the "Heavenly paths". A tourist route that takes you through the oldest and most fascinating artefacts in the region. The Nebra Sky Disc, this bronze masterpiece with the oldest depiction of the cosmos, is another stop on this journey. But Goseck remains a particularly mystical place. Perhaps because it was more than just an observatory. Perhaps because here we sense that mankind, even without technology and modern aids, had a deep connection to the heavens that we have often lost today.

We stand there, the sun beating down on us, and ask ourselves: How did they do it? How were they able to understand such complex relationships with such simple means? And yet the answer is simple: they looked. They observed what really matters. The sky, the sun, life.

And so we stand there, open-mouthed and wide-eyed, while the drone buzzes back. The photos flash up on our smartphones and before we know it, we're already planning the next stage on our phones. Thuringia, Saxony, Bavaria - all just a few clicks away. Gerd has long had his eye on the app, routinely checks the gas tank and takes a quick look at the solar display. Everything under control, everything digital, just like we are. The idea of doing all this without these little helpers suddenly seems like a relic from another time, from a world that we can barely comprehend.

pure life

pure life

pure life

pure life

pure life


Merci for "travelling with us

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