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The nuclear disc is a dense stellar structure at the centre of the Milky Way,with a radius of $\sim$150 pc. It has been a place of intense star formation inthe past several tens of millions of years but its overall formation historyhas remained unknown up to now. Here we report the first detailed starformation history of this region. The bulk of its stars formed at least eightbillion years ago. This initial activity was followed by a long period ofquiescence that was ended by an outstanding event about 1 Gyr ago, during whichroughly 5% of its mass formed in a time window $\sim$100 Myr, in what mayarguably have been one of the most energetic events in the history of the MilkyWay. Star formation continued subsequently on a lower level, creating a fewpercent of the stellar mass in the past $\sim$500 Myr, with an increased rateup to $\sim$30 Myr ago. Our findings contradict the previously acceptedparadigm of quasi-continuous star formation at the centre of the Milky Way. Thelong quiescent phase agrees with the overall quiescent history of the Milky Wayand suggests that our Galaxy's bar may not have existed until recently, or thatgas transport through the bar was extremely inefficient during a long stretchof the Milky Way's life, and that the central black hole may have acquired mostof its mass already in the early days of the Milky Way.

Early formation and recent starburst activity in the nuclear disc of the Milky Way