James Turrell’s Roden Crater

 Roden charter is in deserted region of northern Arizona.

 Roden Crater belongs to a tradition of monumental structures that have been built by artists, rulers, and priests, ancient and modern.

 Turrell studied and adapted essential features of the naked-eye observatory in his designs for Roden Crater, where the natural formation recalled these man-made models.

 When completed the structures within the Crater will form a vast naked eye observatory for celestial objects and events ranging from uncertain and baffling to the more familiar summer and winter solstice.

 The East Portal, the Alpha (East) Tunnel and the Sun | Moon Chamber act in concert as a monumental Camera unclear, or pinhole camera.

 Transmitting light from the East Portal aperture, the Alpha (East) Tunnel focuses images on the west side of the monumental image stone in the Sun | Moon Chamber annually for the southernmost sunset and every 18.61 years to mark the Major Lunar Standstill.