Nan Madol

Nan Madol is a ruined stone city built on the reef off the eastern shore of Pohnpei, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. It is made of 92 small artificial islands linked by canals, which is why it is nicknamed the "Venice of the Pacific". The whole core covers an area about 1.5 by 0.5 kilometres.

It was the royal and ceremonial centre of the Saudeleur dynasty, which ruled Pohnpei until around 1628. The islets are walled with huge blocks of dark basalt stone laid crosswise like logs, and the site is on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

A city on the reef

People were already using the area in the first or second century AD. By the 8th or 9th century islet building had started, and the big stone architecture began around 1180 to 1200 AD. Builders made platforms of stone and coral, edged by tidal canals. The name Nan Madol means "within the intervals", a reference to the canals, while an older name, Soun Nan-leng, is said to mean "Reef of Heaven".

How were the stones moved?

Nobody knows exactly, and few facts about the building work can be proven. Pohnpeian tradition tells of twin sorcerers, Olisihpa and Olosohpa, who floated the giant stones through the air with the help of a flying dragon. Scientists have found no evidence for this legend, but the radiocarbon dates show that Nan Madol is older than the similar ruins of Leluh on Kosrae. The first detailed description was written by the Polish scientist Jan Stanisław Kubary in 1874.

On the globe

The model shows the cluster of walled islets with their stone canals.