Mystery Park

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The 'Panorama Kugel of the "Mystery Park"

Mystery Park was an amusement park located near Interlaken, Switzerland. After the park was momentarily closed until further notice owing to financial difficulties, it re-opened for a short period before being definitively closed in November 2006. The park was designed by Erich von Däniken, and consisted of seven pavilions, each of which explored one of several great "mysteries" of the world.

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

The Panorama Kugel was the central pavilion, topped by a 41-meter high sphere, from which the park's grounds could be seen. The "Kugel" contained 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. All attractions heavily advocated 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) advertised for the park and sold a combined ticket.

Mystery Park opened in 2003. In the winter of 2004, the park and its governmental support came under heavy criticism by the news channel, SRG SSR idée suisse. Owing to expectations which foresaw 500,000 guests per year, the Mystery Park was 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]