Mysteries of the World: a Theme Park, but not as we know it.
The Mysteries of the World theme park, the brainchild of best-selling Swiss author Erich von Däniken, is a step closer to getting off the ground.
The Mysteries of the World theme park, the brainchild of best-selling Swiss author Erich von Däniken, is a step closer to getting off the ground.
The company set up to make the project a reality, Mystery World AG, has announced that Sony, Feldschlösschen-Hürlimann and the Swiss Federal Railways have decided to sponsor the project.
The theme park is scheduled to open at a disused military airfield in Interlaken in 2002.
The president of the company's board, Oskar Schärz, unveiling the latest stage of the project in Interlaken on Thursday, said planning permission and the acquisition of the land are set to be finalised this spring.
Of the total 80 million franc cost, around half is to be raised through shares. The company has so far raised 5.5 million from its stock market flotation last November.
Erich von Däniken says the Mysteries of the World will not be about UFOs and aliens but rather on the puzzles of the ancient civilisations.
"All over the world there are mysteries. For example, everyone knows the great pyramid in Egypt but nobody knows how it was constructed. There are several solutions or suggestions but there's no final answer.
"The world is full of these mysteries and what we are doing here in Interlaken is to build a theme park about these mysteries."
By Jamsheda Ahmad
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
Contributions under this article have been turned off. You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.