Experience 4.5 billion years in one day
Take a journey through the history of the Earth's development in the Geological Educational Garden.
Geological Educational Garden
Can you imagine how the Earth began to form a solid rock crust about 4.5 billion years ago? And how did the developmental history unfold? The Geological Educational Garden, in the heart of the Oostkampplatz in the Nieder-Mörlen district of Bad Nauheim, tells the story in a vivid way.
Visitors embark on a journey through the Earth's evolutionary history in the venue's circular structure. With the help of rocks and fossils, it is possible to retrace 4.5 billion years of history in a single day. In doing so, 4.5 billion years are represented here by 24 hours.
The Earth Time Clock in the Educational Garden shows visitors the way and integrates them into the planet's formation. While walking around the central stone on the clock face, they themselves become the clock hand, passing through a period of 4.5 billion years in 24 hours. The history of the Earth is divided into the sections prehistoric and early earth ages, antiquity, middle ages and modern times. The segments of the Earth Time Clock, which extend over 30 metres into open space, symbolise the Earth's age. Paved with rock slabs, they are walkable and contain rocks, minerals and fossils from the respective geological periods.
The journey through time ends with the last and most recent fossil: a child's footprint from Nieder-Mörl, symbolising man's presence on Earth for only a few seconds. The Geological Educational Garden also makes observers aware of the need to protect our planet: what has evolved over billions of years must not be recklessly jeopardised by current generations.
Geologischer Lehrgarten
Oostkamp-Platz
61231 Bad Nauheim
