The Stonehenge replica is located on the campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin

University of Texas of the Permian Basin

The University of Texas of the Permian Basin is located in Odessa, Texas. It was authorized by the Texas Legislature in 1969 and founded in 1973...

 in Odessa

Odessa, Texas

Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...

 in Ector County, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

. About twenty stone blocks, similar in size, shape, and appearance to the ancient 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...

 in southwestern England

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, were unveiled in the summer of 2004. The replica matches the original Stonehenge horizontally, but it falls some 14 percent short in height from the English monument. The tallest stone on the original is twenty-two feet, while the highest in the Odessa version is nineteen feet.

While the original may have taken two thousand years to complete, the replica was placed at UTPB in six weeks. The stones were moved two at a time on tractor-trailers and lifted into place on cement footings made of reinforced concrete. The original Stonehenge marked the summer and winter 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...

. The replica is the dream of a citizens group who believe the exhibit will draw visitors from Interstate 20

Interstate 20

Interstate 20 is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I‑20 runs 1,535 miles from near Kent, Texas, at Interstate 10 to Florence, South Carolina, at Interstate 95...

 and also enhance the cultural environment of the dusty West Texas

West Texas

West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....

 city. Each stone weighs more than twenty thousand pounds and is composed of limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 slabs donated from the quarry

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

 of TexaStone of Garden City

Garden City, Texas

Garden City is a Census Designated Place in Glasscock County, Texas, United States. It lies near the center of the county, approximately 27 miles south of Big Spring. Garden City serves as the Glasscock County seat, and at the 2010 Census, had a population of 334...

 in Glasscock near Big Spring

Big Spring, Texas

Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20. With a population of 25,233 at the 2000 census, it is the largest city between Midland to the west, Abilene to the east, Lubbock to the north, and San Angelo...

, Texas. The exhibit can be accessed at any time off East University Boulevard in Odessa. Admission is free.