Process: Visitor Centre in Niederstotzingen
A few years ago, archaeologists found several animal figurines made of mammoth ivory, the oldest of them dating back about 40 000 years, in the Vogelherd Cave, some 30 kilometres northeast of Ulm. The new visitor centre, erected close to the archaeological dig, serves first of all as a reception building that offers the visitors a shop and a cafeteria, as well as an exhibition on the archaeological site and contemporaneous events. It also contains a dimly lit “Schatzkammer” – a treasury – in which two figurines that were discovered on the grounds and which count among the world’s oldest works of art are on display, including the only one excavated here to have survived intact: a mammoth ivory with a height of just 3.5 cm. And, last but not least, as a landscape element of exposed concrete embedded in a gently arching grass mound – the start and conclusion of the painstakingly choreographed tour through the archaeological park, which was developed by an interdisciplinary design team. This park allows visitors to engage all five senses to gain knowledge of life during the Upper Paleolithic Period. Among other installations, there are five themed spaces (on the topics hunting, encampments, religion, fire and art) situated along pathways lined with sparse plantings, rubber cubes and oak sleepers bearing inscriptions – in some cases surprising questions and answers – that give glimpses into the world of prehistoric man.
