Prague Planetarium by Karel Stolar - Prague, Czech Republic
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ToRo61
N 50° 06.323 E 014° 25.598
33U E 458998 N 5550504
The Prague Planetarium, with a 23 m high projection dome with a surface are of 843 m2, is one of the largest in the world. The integrated opto-mechanical and digital systems can create a perfect illusion of outer space.
Waymark Code: WM11WP5
Location: Hlavní město Praha, Czechia
Date Posted: 12/30/2019
Views: 13
The need for a special building arose in 1954 after purchasing a greater apparatus (again Carl Zeiss Jena) with a projection dome with a diameter of 23 m. Out of many different options, a location was finally selected on the edge of the Royal Game Preserve, where there used to be a pleasure restaurant with a dance floor and stables for saddle horses. Until the completion of the new building, the apparatus was deposited in the National Technical Museum’s depository.
The house for the planetarium was built according to a project of architect Jaroslav Fragner, which originally only served as a draft. It was greatly modified for the realization, mostly due to the smaller financial budget (stone balustrade is missing, ancient heads of the supporting pillars as well, there were supposed to be 12 statues of working people in the recesses reminding of blank windows, etc.). Unusual orientation of the main entrance into the green of the Stromovka Park reckoned with the creation of a new and wide access road from this direction. Luckily, this also did not happen - as it would mean an extensive clearance of high-grown trees and bushes.
The planetarium was festively opened for public on the 20th November 1960. At that time, it was one of the most technically advanced in the world, and until today it is still one of the largest. Since 1979, it has been a part of the Observatories and Planetarium of the Capital City of Prague (together with Štefánik’s Observatory at Petrín and Dáblice Observatory).
The apparatus for which the building was built was fully functional until 1988, and after a reconstruction it is still functional today, although it is technically obsolete.
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The author of this painting is Karel Stolar. Karel Stolar is the book illustrator who is dedicated to creating drawings sights. You can find this painting in book 'Pražské domy vyprávejí - VIII'.
This book is one of a twelve-part series of books describing structural changes and the development of cultural-historical monuments of Prague (houses, villas and palaces, library, banks, school, museum, hospital, farm, etc.).