Registrar’s Postcard: Ljubljana, Slovenia

This wheel is 5,200 years old and it’s the oldest known wheel. It inspires enormous wonder, I felt like I was under a spell.

The slick exhibition design at the Ljubljana City Museum, supported by BMW, amplifies the sense of wonder.

The magic takes effect as visitors are primed for their encounter. Funneled down a corridor with the wheel framed at the end, it opens onto a black, circular room. The wheel is secluded, elevated on a black plinth and under focused lighting.

The wheel’s presence is pulled through the museum. There’s product placement with an impressive BMW Art Car at the entrance and a display dedicated to BMW engineering. But it’s the link between the wheel and the spheres of the solar system which caught me, created by a scale model of the sun and planets filling half a neighboring gallery. I saw the oldest wheel and held Pluto between my fingers.