26 Oct 2022
The Stevns Klint area along the Danish south coast is one of the best places in the world to see traces of the asteroid that caused a mass extinction 66 million years ago. There, in the old lime quarry of Boesdal, the Stevns Klint Experience has emerged. Tinker Imagineers designed an exhibition about the extinction, its effects, and the scientific discovery of the traces left by the asteroid.
Since the 17-km-long Stevns cliffs were recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014, they have been attracting visitors from around the globe. With this new visitor centre, the area will become even more appealing. On 12 October, the Stevns Klint Experience was inaugurated by Danish Queen Margrethe II and will open today to the public.
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The exhibition is divided into two parts. In Stevns Klint Hall, an immersive film about the dramatic extinction and the survival of life on Earth plays out. The images are partly projected on a huge cut-out of the cliff, with the Fish Clay layer in the middle. Here, visitors can see up close where and how the asteroid left its traces. Stan Boshouwers, director of Tinker, explains: "Thanks to the cooperation of the great Stevns Klint team, we were able to incorporate a piece of the authentic cliff and put it centre stage as it tells the story. It provides the evidence and holds the answer to the mystery of the mass extinction that occurred 66 million years ago."
In the World Heritage Hall, the whole story is told chronologically. The room is divided into three smaller zones where the visitor is led through time and space, from what the world looked like 66 million years ago, when dinosaurs were roaming the earth with our ancestor mammals, to the time when the asteroid hit the Earth. The third zone is about how life on Earth recovered and evolved.
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As part of the timeline, a couple of exhibits focus on the scientific side of the story, including how world-renowned geologist, Walter Alvarez, took samples at Stevns Klint to discover what happened all those years ago. Other exhibits focus on other places where this kind of evidence can be found, and whether or not such mass extinction could happen again. The exhibition’s furnishings and design were inspired by the type of debris that flies around after the impact of an asteroid.
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The lively illustrations on the wallpaper surrounding the exhibition present a contrast to its monumental design and add some softness and poetry to the space. Like the entire team, Boshouwers is extremely proud of the result: "We managed to create a coherent experience design by looking at this important UNESCO heritage site through the lenses of research and wonder."
Steen Bonke Sørensen, director of the Stevns Klint Experience, commented enthusiastically: "The Stevns Klint Experience serves all the senses, and visitors will have the experience of a lifetime. The building itself is a new architectural landmark in Stevns, and the interactive exhibition conveys the history and ensures visitors of all ages will have their own special experiences. We use and sell local products in our café and shop, and I look forward to sharing this with the rest of the world."
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