Stonehenge Replica (Odessa, Texas)

Stonehenge replica on campus of the University of Texas of the Permian Basin in Odessa

Another Stonehenge exhibit

The Stonehenge Replica is located on the campus of the University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa in Ector County, Texas. Some twenty stone blocks, similar in size, shape, and appearance to the ancient Stonehenge in southwestern England, were unveiled in the summer of 2004. The replica matches the original Stonehenge horizontally, but it falls some 14 percent short in height from the English monument. The tallest stone on the original is twenty-two feet, while the highest in the Odessa version is nineteen feet.^[1]

While the original may have taken two thousand years to complete, the replica was placed at UTPB in six weeks. The stones were moved two at a time on tractor-trailers and lifted into place on footings made of reinforced concrete. The original Stonehenge marked the summer and winter solstices.^[2] The replica is the dream of a citizens group who believe the exhibit would draw visitors from Interstate 20 and also enhance the cultural environment of the dusty West Texas city.^[1] Each stone weighs more than twenty thousand pounds and is composed of limestone slabs donated from the quarry^[3] of TexaStone of Garden City in Glasscock County near Big Spring, Texas.^[1] The exhibit can be accessed at any time off East University Boulevard in Odessa. Admission is free.

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