To be built in a currently disused quarry Jurassica will have a mixture of classic specimen displays, immersive environments and innovative cutting-edge virtual reality to bring to life more than 200 million years of prehistory. It plans to be the world’s most spectacular prehistoric visitor attraction and it’s coming to our little island!
The site for Jurassica is Broadcroft Quarry and hopes to be open by 2021. Within this is Yeoland’s Pit which is 100m across and 35m deep. The bulk of Jurassica will be located within this pit and will be mostly below ground level. There will be an aquarium, featuring animatronic Jurassic marine reptiles, the sea monsters of prehistoric Earth. There will be three galleries featuring fossil collections from the Natural History Museum and world-class specimens currently in the hands of private collectors. The projects patron is the broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough and is the brain child of Michael Hanlon, a science writer who grew up in Dorset and who spent many happy days hammering and chiselling the cliffs of Purbeck, Portland and Charmouth searching for fossils.
Jurassica exhibition this summer
The Jurassica team are planning a Summer Pop-up event to take place at Osprey Leisure Centre in Castletown, Portland over the Bank Holiday Weekend, 28th – 31st August 2015.
The breath-taking exhibit will breathe life into the extraordinary sea monsters and ammonites that swam through the tropical seas of the Jurassic Coast. Plus, there’ll be talks, fossils and hands-on activities to amuse both adults and children.
Jurassica has teamed up with SpaceHive to crowdfund the event – with a fundraising target of £50,000.
CEO Michael Hanlon says,
We will be open by 2021. That is my promise, to Dorset, the UK and to the people of Weymouth and Portland. No one said this would be easy. It isn’t. But it is possible. And what is possible will, with a will, become a certainty.
Jurassica will certainly be a spectacular visitor attraction for visitors to Portland. From the pictures and plans it looks as if it will certainly be of great entertainment and educational value. When visiting Jurassica people will hopefully spend time on the Isle of Portland and see what a truly spectacular place it is.
