Mystery theme park in Swiss Alps marks return for Von Daniken

Published on Sunday 8 June 2003 01:00

ERICH von Daniken, who shot to fame in 1966 with his best-selling book Chariots of the Gods, has made a comeback. This time, in his homeland of Switzerland, where he has created a Disneyland-like theme park for fans of UFOs and alien abductions.

Built on a modest budget of 40m, Von Daniken’s Mystery Park doesn’t have expensive special effects or sophisticated interactive computer programmes.

Nevertheless, visitors have been flocking to the new theme park set in a disused airfield outside Interlaken in the Swiss Alps ever since it opened last month.

"The great mysteries of the world exist on all five continents, but only a few people have the time and the money to travel to them," said Von Daniken, explaining that the idea was to group models of these wonders under one roof for convenience.

Mystery Park looks like a spaceship stranded in the Alps. It is divided into seven themed "pavilions" each presenting one of seven "great mysteries of the world."

Von Daniken says the aim is "to ask questions, not to provide answers" and that he wants to evoke "wonder and astonishment" in visitors.

One pavilion, called "MegaStones" describes Stonehenge in Wiltshire as "a time machine for high priests" .

Professor Rudolf von Steiger of the International Space Science Institute in the Swiss capital of Berne, who visited Mystery Park before it opened on May 24, said: "It’s a theme park, so it’s fun. But no one is going to learn anything there."