A few days before Christmas, ministers Rhein and Schäfer from the country Hessen, Germany officially handed over 4.78 million Euro to Weimar for the construction of the archaeological open-air museum Zeiteninsel. This will cover 90% of the total costs. Planning with Dr Thiedmann started 17 years ago – the handing over of the large sum of money marks a big step in the development of the Zeiteninsel project.

The Zeiteninsel Project (EXARC member), close to Marburg, will make a lively impression of the daily life of the past in five time stations. This will be an attractive addition to the museum landscape of Hessen, according to minister Rhein. The country Hessen does not provided with a central archaeological museum like many other German countries do – the choice was to use a decentral system with a separate museum for each time period. The Zeiteninsel museum will therefore be a welcome addition to museums like the Celtic ‘Keltenwelt am Glauberg’ and the Roman ‘Römerkastell Saalburg Archäologischer Park‘ (also EXARC member).
The five time stations in Zeitensinsel cover the period from the Mesolithic times up until the Iron Age and will not only visualise the past but will also enable people to walk through and experience characteristics of these periods. It will be a good addition to the existing archaeological museums in Hessen but even so, it will be interesting for people far beyond Hessen as it shows concepts also known from prehistoric times elsewhere, like hunting and gathering in Stone Age.

The Neolithic Station is already well prepared and the first of the Time Stations to be built. The money however is not only meant to build the five open-air time stations the infrastructure is also costly: roads, parking space and of course a modern entrance building which includes an exhibition and space for events and presentations as well as a shop and a small restaurant.

EXARC congratulates all colleagues at the Zeiteninsel Project: we will soon hear much more about this project!