Woodhenge Meers

You probably know the stone structure Stongehenge that stands in England. In Meers you will find a wooden version of this building: Woodhenge. It consists of a circle of trees that fulfills the function of a calendar. Every season the sun shines differently on the trees and the accompanying shadows mark the beginning of spring, summer, autumn and winter. The other trees are in a straight line with the surrounding villages of Meers, Elsloo, Kotem, Maasmechelen, Maasband and Stein. The structure was not made with parts of living trees, but with excavated remains of trees that grew on the banks of the Maas before the Middle Ages. These historic trees have emerged from gravel extraction. The oldest tree that was excavated there was from 2425 BC. Many other tree trunks are a lot younger. Woodhenge can be found in a bend of the Maas and it was built on that spot in the Redevelopment Grensmaas project.