DN
Wiltshire, UK-He is the star attraction of Stonehenge’s new £27million modern visitor centre that has taken decades to produce.
A Neolithic man has been brought to life after the most advanced forensic reconstruction of a face, based on a 5,500-year-old skeleton buried in a long barrow 1.5 miles from Stonehenge.
The new face of the model, which has been carefully reconstructed to show people what life was like
More than a million people flock to the popular ancient monument in Wiltshire each year, with hundreds attending ceremonies to mark the solstices.
Since the end of the 19th century, Stonehenge has been ‘severely compromised’ by the intrusion of roads and traffic, with ‘outdated and inadequate’ visitor facilities.
Stonehenge’s connection to the surrounding prehistoric landscape and nearby ancient monuments has also been cut off with roads and fences.
Work to ‘restore the dignity’ of the monument as part of a £27 million project led by English Heritage began last year.
A section of the A344 road, which runs past Stonehenge, was permanently closed in June and the visitor building - complete with a ‘thrilling’ exhibition - will now open.
The centre, designed by architects Denton Corker Marshall, lies a mile-and-a-half to the west of the stones. Stonehenge is not immediately visible from the visitor centre, with tourists able to use a 10-minute shuttle bus or walk down a newly-reconnected ancient processional approach.
Further work to decommission the existing facilities, built in 1968, and returning the car park to grass will commence in January.
The transformation is the largest capital project ever undertaken by English Heritage.
Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, said: ‘This is the end of an incre ‘Stonehenge is almost certainly the most famous ancient monument in the world and up until now it hasn’t really had adequate visitor facilities.
‘There’s been no exhibition, no opportunities for people to have a cup of tea, even.
‘This is a radical change for the million people a year who come to Stonehenge.
‘They can see the stones for the first time free from the clutter and rubbish that have accrued around them since the 1960s.
‘They can understand them properly because we have an exhibition here that can take people back into the Neolithic period.