Stonehenge Aotearoa

The modern henge was designed to demonstrate how ancient peoples used such constructions to understand astronomy and also to explain basic astronomical ideas.

Stonehenge Aotearoa also differs from its Salisbury cousin in construction; the pillars, lintels and central obelisk are not hewn stone, but are hollow structures with concrete moulding forming their exterior.

These frame the rising points of the Sun, the Moon, and bright stars that are either important seasonal markers or navigational beacons.

[1] Stonehenge Aotearoa's six heel stones mark the place where the Sun is rising and setting at solstices and equinoxes.

The stone sculpture "the Fingers of Mother Earth" marks the place where the heliacal rising of Matariki can be observed around the winter solstice in June.