The invention of the wheel is one of the foundations of modern civilization and culture. Thousands of years of inventiveness have not created anything to replace the wheel.
And the oldest wooden wheel along with an axle, 5,200 years old, was discovered in Slovenia in the Ljubljana Marshes.
The wheel is making its first public appearance in the City Museum of Ljubljana at the exhibition ‘WHEEL, 5,200 years’, which will open to the public on 24 May and will be displayed for almost a year, till 20 April 2014. It will then be showcased in several European cities.
The show is of course bigger than just a wheel. The organizers told us: “In the first section, the exhibition sets the wheel in space, at the time of the pile dwelling culture in the Ljubljana Marshes, where it was found. Interesting details from the everyday lives of the pile dwellers and their habits are presented with original artifacts. Further on, the wheel is displayed as one of the most important technological inventions. The period of industrialization and industrial revolution is emphasized, which significantly changed the economic, scientific, political and wider social development of western civilization. The third section presents the wheel on the symbolic level, spinning in different dimensions of time and space. An individual’s desire for knowledge, exploration and creativity is unstoppable and also expands beyond our planet.“
