Helios

We had another trip to Fountains Abbey a couple of weeks ago. We've visited this National Trust property many times but this was a trip with a difference, this time we were going to see Helios, the new artwork from Luke Jerram. He's previously created Museum of the Moon, Gaia, and Mars, large scale models of the moon, the Earth, and Mars. Helios, his new art installation, is a large scale model of the sun.

You could see Helios in the abbey's ruins during a regular visit or you could visit out of normal hours and see Helios by sunrise or Helios by sunset, we opted for the latter. We thought it would create quite the impression in the night sky and we wasn't wrong. You could see it glowing within the abbey.

In Greek mythology, Helios is the sun god and this is who this artwork is named after. It was suspended in the centre of the Nave in the abbey ruins.

Helios has a 7-metre diameter and each centimetre represents 2000 kilometres of the sun's actual surface.

Fountains Abbey was the perfect place to view it, especially at night. The open aspect of the abbey gave a great atmosphere, especially as there were sounds of the sun recorded by NASA being played at the same time.

The 360-degree viewing experience allowed a closer look at the whole surface of the sun, including sun spots and solar flares. It was fun looking at it at different angles through the ruins.

Fountains Abbey itself has a totally different atmosphere at night.

We took the opportunity to wander away from Helios and look at some other areas.

The Great Cloister is my favourite place in the abbey, it's so well preserved.

The abbey was built in the twelfth century and the sun played a vital part in the lives of the monks who founded it.

I missed Luke Jerram's other art installations when they toured but I'm glad I managed to see this one.