Mystery Park

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The 'Panorama Kugel of the "Mystery Park"

Mystery Park is an amusement park located near Interlaken, Switzerland. The park is momentarily closed until further notice due to financial difficulties, but there are efforts underway to reopen it. Designed by Erich von Däniken, it consists of seven pavilions, each of which explores a great "mystery" of the world.

Nazca explores the Nazca Lines near Nazca, Peru.
Contact explores cargo cults.
MegaStones explores Stonehenge.
Maya explores the Maya calendar.
Orient explores Great Pyramid of Giza.
Vimana explores the Vimana (flying machines) described in the Mahabharata and the Rig Veda.
Challenge explores space flight and Mars exploration.

The Panorama Kugel is the central pavilion, topped by a 41-meter high sphere, from which the park's grounds can be seen. The "Kugel" also contains exhibits of von Däniken's works.

[edit] Controversy

Von Däniken is a well-known advocate of aliens influencing Earth and he has written sensational books about the subject. Indeed, all attractions heavily advocate the idea of alien visits to Earth.

The Mystery Park was labeled a "cultural Chernobyl" by Académie suisse des sciences techniques member Antoine Wasserfallen who was cited by the Swiss newspaper Le Temps and other media [1]. The Swiss federal railroad company (SBB) has advertised for the park and sold a combined ticket. It is expected that similar arrangements will be in place when the park reopens.

In the winter of 2004, the park and its governmental support came under heavy criticism by the news channel, SRG SSR idée suisse. Due to expectations which foresaw 500,000 guests per year, the Mystery Park is in major financial straits. In 2005 only 200,000 visited the park ^[1]. Because of this, operation of the park had to be suspended on November 19, 2006.^[2]