Carhenge
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
's Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska
Alliance, Nebraska
-External links:* * *...
on the High Plains
High Plains (United States)
The High Plains are a subregion of the Great Plains mostly in the Western United States, but also partly in the Midwest states of Nebraska, Kansas, and South Dakota, generally encompassing the western part of the Great Plains before the region reaches the Rocky Mountains...
. Instead of being built with large standing stone
Standing stone
Standing stones, orthostats, liths, or more commonly megaliths are solitary stones set vertically in the ground and come in many different varieties....
s, as is the case with the original Stonehenge, Carhenge is formed from vintage American automobile
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
s, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders, it was dedicated at the June 1987 summer solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
. In 2006, a visitor center
Visitor center
A visitor center or centre , visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to the visitors who tour the place or area locally...
was constructed to service the site.
Structure
Carhenge consists of 38 automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about 29 metres (95.1 ft) in diameter. Some are held upright in pits 1.5 metres (4.9 ft) deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models. The heelstoneHeelstone
right|thumb|250px|Southwest face of HeelstoneThe Heelstone is a single large block of sarsen stone standing within the Avenue outside the entrance of the Stonehenge earthwork, close to the main road . In section it is sub-rectangular, with a minimum thickness of 8 ft , rising to a tapered top...
is a 1962 Cadillac. Three cars were buried at Carhenge. Their "gravestone" is a car that reads: "Here lie three bones of foreign cars. They served our purpose while Detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America's great!"
Carhenge replicates Stonehenge's current "tumble-down" state, rather than the original stone circle erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC.
In addition to the Stonehenge replica, the Carhenge site includes several other sculptures created from autos covered with various colors of spray paint.
History
Carhenge was conceived in 1987 by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father. While living in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he studied the structure of Stonehenge, which helped him to copy the structure's shape, proportions, and size. Other automobile sculptures were subsequently added to the location of Carhenge, which is now known as the Car Art Reserve.
Carhenge is used frequently in popular culture, and makes appearances in film, popular music, television programs and commercials. It is the subject of the 2005 documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
Carhenge: Genius or Junk?
Carhenge: Genius or Junk?
Carhenge: Genius or Junk? is a 2005 documentary film about Carhenge, an artist's almost-to-scale interpretation of Stonehenge, but built with automobiles instead of megaliths...
, and features in the 2007 travel book
Travel writing
Travel writing is a genre that has, as its focus, accounts of real or imaginary places. The genre encompasses a number of styles that may range from the documentary to the evocative, from literary to journalistic, and from the humorous to the serious....
1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die
1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die
1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die is a book written by Patricia Schultz as a follow up book to 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.-Wikipedia pages for 1000 places:* Acadia National Park, Maine...
.
It was the location of the final scene of Dan Mirvish
Dan Mirvish
Dan Mirvish is an American filmmaker and author, best known as the co-founder of the Slamdance Film Festival and co-creator of the Martin Eisenstadt hoax during the 2008 Presidential election...
's 1994 film Omaha.
Carhenge will be in the path of the Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017.
Carhenge was reported as listed for sale for $300,000.
See also
- Cadillac RanchCadillac RanchCadillac Ranch is a public art installation and sculpture in Amarillo, Texas, U.S. It was created in 1974 by Chip Lord, Hudson Marquez and Doug Michels, who were a part of the art group Ant Farm, and it consists of what were either older running used or junk Cadillac automobiles, representing a...
- SpindleSpindle (sculpture)Spindle was a sculpture created in 1989 by artist Dustin Shuler . It consisted of a 50 foot spike with eight cars impaled on it. From 1989 until its demolition on May 2, 2008, it was located in the car park of Cermak Plaza shopping center, at the corner of Cermak Road and Harlem Avenue in Berwyn,...
- Stonehenge replicas and derivativesStonehenge replicas and derivativesThis is list of Stonehenge replicas and derivatives that seeks to collect all the non-ephemeral examples together. The fame of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge has led to numerous efforts to recreate it, using a variety of different materials, around the world...
External links
- Official site
- English Landmark Mysteriously Appears in Western Nebraska, Nebraska State Historical SocietyNebraska State Historical SocietyThe Nebraska State Historical Society is a Nebraska state agency, founded in 1878 to "encourage historical research and inquiry, spread historical information .....