Nuremberg's Planetarium, located at the city's Plärrer hub, attracts more than 80,000 visitors a year. The most important educational and cultural institution of its kind on the Bavarian map is named after the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.

History of the planetarium

In pre-war Nuremberg there were several places where the city's inhabitants could spend their leisure time. One of the most frequented was the planetarium at Rathenauplatz from 1927. In 1934, the building was demolished on the orders of the gauleiter of Franconia, leader of the local NSDAP centre, Julius Streicher. The official reason for the demolition was the change in the urban concept of the area, while the unofficial reason was the stylistic similarity of the building to the synagogue architecture.

After the war, the authorities decided to build a new planetarium. The building, financed by the electricity and water supplier EWAG, was opened in 1961. The modern facility, located in a modernist building with a glass dome in the vicinity of the sponsor's administrative skyscraper, was designed as a multifunctional space - planetarium, concert hall and conference hall.

Patronage

In 1973, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus, the institution took the name of the Nicolaus Copernicus Planetarium. The choice of patron was not accidental - Copernicus published his landmark treatise in 1543. "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" was published in Nuremberg.