Zeiss-Großplanetarium
Since reopening after a two-year pause for modernization in August 2016, it is considered as the most modern “Science Theatre” in Europe.
The foundation stone for the building was laid down in 1985 on the 750th year anniversary of the city of Berlin. The audience hall had almost 300 seats. The core piece of today’s staging of the cosmoson the 23m high dome of the hall is the most powerful planetarium installation from Zeiss – theUniversarium IX. This innovationissupplemented withten digital Zeiss velvet-video projectorsthat create the 360-degree full dome projection and conjure a video picture on the whole dome.With the unification of the two states of Germany in 1990,there wasa threat of closing down the planetarium. Scarce financial resources and reduction in personnel with the simultaneous modernizationbrought the prestige building of the late GDR in difficulties.
As a prominent location of the Foundation Planetarium Berlin, which was set up in 2016, it makes accessiblein the dome hall and in a cinema,scientific themes in various languages and to all generations.In the ErnstThälmannPark, which surrounds the Zeiss Major Planetarium, stoodthe three huge gas tanks of a former gas plant, which were blown up in July 1984 despite protests from civil society groups, who wanted to keep the gasometer as an industrial monument.