Wolfgang Grulke, advisory board member to The Jurassica Project is set to present the last 250 million years of Dorset’s incredibly geological history at The Grange Hotel in Oborne on Wednesday May 13.
Plans are underway to create Jurassica, an ambitious project to craft a prehistoric visitor attraction, under a glass dome in a disused quarry in Portland. From 7pm, Wolfgang will explore why Jurassica is important to Dorset and will display some of the fossils that tell the prehistoric story of Dorset. There will also be a display of the design models for Jurassica and an opportunity to discuss the project.
Wolfgang said: “Dorset has been the epi-centre of a revolution in geological thinking that began more than 200 years ago and encompasses the whole of southern England.
“The Jurassica Project’s iconic architecture should be a magnet for international tourism the way the Eiffel Tower has been for France and the pyramids have been for Egypt. The opportunities are limited only by our imagination – and the drive to make it happen.”
Wolfgang is an author and businessman who lives locally and has a renowned fossil collection of which Sir David Attenborough commented: “I am, truly, lost for words.”
Wolfgang’s fossil collection is featured in his new book ‘Heteromorph: Nature at its most bizarre’.
Entry is by donation of £7 with all proceeds going to the Oborne Village Hall. Seats can be booked by emailing Karen Perryman kandjperryman@tiscali.co.uk
Jurassica will cost £80m to build and is due to open in 2021. The project has received substantial funding from Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership as part of the Strategic Economic Plan for jobs and growth and has already secured substantial financial backing from Dorset businesses. Jurassica has partnerships with Bournemouth University and the Natural History Museum.