Tuesday, June 12

Sun Tunnels



In an abandoned town in a Utah desert lays a giant piece of artwork. It may come as a great unknown secret to some, but the artwork has been around for over 30 years.

The Sun Tunnels are set up to align with the summer and winter solstices, at these times the sun is centered exactly through the Sun Tunnels. Ten inch holes are cut into the concrete piping so that constellations can be seen through the holes at night. The holes align with four constellations-Perseus, Draco, Columbia and Capricorn.

Nancy Holt, the creator of the Sun Tunnels, constructed her artwork in 1976. Holt's late husband, Robert Smithson, is the creator of the Spiral Jetty located on the Great Salt Lake. The Spiral Jetty is made of mud, salt crystals and basalt rocks. It's shaped in a counter clockwise coil and lays 15 feet wide and 1500 feet long.

To view the Sun Tunnels, take I-80 west from Salt Lake City to Wendover to Oasis Nevada. Take Nevada #233 to Highway 30. Turn right at the first road, drive 5 miles to Lucin. Cross over the railroad tracks for two miles, turn left for two miles then turn right for about a mile. --Tina Brown

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Good words.