戊寅年 4696, ԹՎ ՌՆԽԸ, 1420, 平成１１年, 民國88年, 156, MCMXCIX, 1999.
However they referred to it, a time when humanity was divided by divergent religion, language, and culture. The primitive civilizations could not even agree on a calendar.
An emerging global community needed a unifying force. Again, art showed the way. In the twilight of the second millenium on the christian calendar, as many fretted about whether or not machines could count to 2000, a man gave humanity a gift in the form of a proclamation.
With this gift, time, and culture itself, could begin anew. In honor of the timeless nature of his contribution, we now name every thousand orbits of the earth around the sun in his honor.
Here we celebrate THE FIRST WILLENIUM.