Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium — an educational and entertainment center for displaying the starry sky and space objects. As of 2007, the most advanced planetarium in Russia.

Nature of the Phenomenon

A small unitary enterprise on the balance sheet of the city administration. Motto: "The Universe will come closer".

From the opening of the 1948 school season until 5 December 2005, the Planetarium was housed in the building of the Alekseyevskaya Church of the Blagoveschenskiy Muzhskoy Monastery.[2]

The renovated Planetarium in Nizhny Novgorod has become an exhibition venue equipped with the most up-to-date digital projectors and lecture halls. Concerts, conferences, and presentations of various large-scale innovative projects are held here. The Planetarium's program includes full-dome films, concerts, guided tours, popular-science lectures, masterclasses, telescope observation sessions, interactive programs, and performances; mobile planetarium programs and a space simulator are offered as a separate area of activity.[1]

In 1993, the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium initiated the founding of the Association of Planetariums of Russia.

Since 1994 it has represented Russian "star houses" in the International Planetarium Society, and in 1998 was recognized as the organizational and methodological center of planetariums of the Russian Federation.

Opening

It began operating on 1 September 1948, becoming the second planetarium in the USSR after the Moscow one, which had opened in 1929.

Resolution on the Opening of the Planetarium

« RESOLUTION No. 957

of the Executive Committee of the Gorky City Soviet of Workers' Deputies, September 23, 1947, "On the Organization of an Educational Planetarium in the City of Gorky."

In accordance with Order No. 2053-r of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR dated August 28, 1947,

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE CITY SOVIET HAS RESOLVED:

To organize in the city of Gorky an Educational Planetarium in the premises currently occupied by the warehouse of the Oblshveyrems­oyuz. To require the Oblshveyrems­oyuz to vacate the warehouse premises within five days.

To require the Department of Cultural and Educational Work (Comrade Guryeva) and Torgstroy (Comrade Smirnov) to begin renovation of the premises on September 25, 1947, and to open the planetarium therein no later than November 6. To authorize the Department of Cultural and Educational Work to spend 250,000 rubles from the city budget on the acquisition of equipment, as well as on the renovation and outfitting of the planetarium.

To require the Head of the City Finance Department, Comrade Alekseyev, to fund the Department of Cultural and Educational Work in the amount of 250,000 rubles by reducing expenditures on non-limit costs for the construction of the monument to A. M. Gorky.

To approve the staffing schedule submitted by the Department of Cultural and Educational Work. To request that the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR petition the State Staffing Commission under the Council of Ministers of the USSR for approval of the staffing schedule for the Educational Planetarium.

To instruct the Department of Cultural and Educational Work to submit to the Executive Committee of the City Soviet, by October 15 of this year, a work plan for the Gorky Educational Planetarium.

To assign supervision over the vacation of the premises to the City Housing Administration, Comrade Ignatyev.

Chairman of the Executive Committee of the City Soviet of Workers' Deputies (Shulpin) Secretary of the Executive Committee of the City Soviet of Workers' Deputies

(Snegirev)
 »


Original Equipment

Originally, the center of the Star Hall housed a UP-2 star projector ("uproschennyy planetariy," or simplified planetarium, second model), manufactured in the workshops of the Moscow Planetarium.

In 1974 it was replaced by a "ZKP-1" projector made by the German firm Zeiss, and in 1991 by the "SKYMASTER-ZKP-2," which projects images of 5,800 stars down to 6th magnitude. Each of the two large star globes contains a 50-watt lamp that projects the stars of the northern and southern hemispheres respectively through 32 specialized projectors. The "SKYMASTER" is a third-generation instrument from Carl Zeiss. It belongs to the small-type planetarium category and projects celestial bodies onto a dome screen 8 m in diameter. The seating capacity of the auditorium is approximately 80 people.

A New Building — New Technologies

Following the return of the building to the Russian Orthodox Church, a decision was made to construct a new planetarium. During construction, the planetarium did not interrupt its operations.

On February 4, 2005, a competitive selection of organizations for the right to construct the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium was held.

The winner of the open competition was OOO Nizhegorodstroyмontazh. Construction began in May. The new building was erected in four months. Work on the construction site proceeded in three shifts. The builders worked with unprecedented enthusiasm.

On October 4 — the anniversary of the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite — the most complex phase of construction was successfully completed: the raising and installation of the dome roof. In mid-October, construction of the building was finished. Interior finishing work is now underway. The facility is being brought into service in two stages: the first launch complex was commissioned in 2005, and the second is to follow in 2006. The first launch complex enables the opening of the "Planets" astro-classroom, the "Astronomy" hall with its small five-meter practice dome, the "Cosmonautics" multimedia museum hall, a specialized scientific library, a research and methodology department, engineering and technical services, administrative and support staff areas, a café-bar, a shop, restrooms, and a cloakroom for visitors.

Due to insufficient funding and the complexity of the design solutions, work on the second star hall — with its 16-meter dome — and the open astronomical observatory has been deferred to the second stage. On December 5, 2005, the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium ceased operations in the old building. But as early as December 14, the first event was held in the new building — the traditional monthly public lecture series "We and the Universe" — and on December 21, regular lectures began. On December 27, 2005, the building of the Alekseevskaya Church was officially transferred to the Nizhny Novgorod Diocese: Nizhny Novgorod Mayor Vadim Bulavinov handed over the keys to Bishop George of Nizhny Novgorod and Arzamas, and that same day a prayer service was held in the church for the first time in 86 years.[2]

The new planetarium was built using the latest technologies; moreover, it surpasses the old building and is ready to host more than 50,000 visitors annually and hold 1,300 events. The planetarium complex includes the "Planet" and "Cosmonautics" multimedia halls.

The planetarium is home to Russia's first "digital planetarium" system. Of the approximately 4,000 planetariums existing worldwide, such a system has been installed in only around 200.

Layout and Equipment

The image on the dome of the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium is created by 6 digital projectors arranged in a circle and controlled by a central computer.

The "digital planetarium" has distinct advantages — the dome can display not only stars but also video footage and a wide variety of phenomena, including fantastical ones, such as simulated flights to other planets, stars, and so forth.

The majority of sessions take the form not of a traditional lecture but of a pre-recorded film, typically with high-quality narration and a carefully crafted script.

The system does have a few minor drawbacks, apparently related to the current limitations of the technology:

  • insufficiently dark sky;
  • noticeable flickering of stars when transitioning across pixels.

Institutional Affiliation

Over the fifty-year history of the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium, its governing body has changed several times. Initially the planetarium was under the authority of the City Directorate for Cultural and Educational Work, then the Regional "Znanie" Society (from 1961 to 1992), the Regional Department of Education and Science (1992–1997), and finally, in 1997, the planetarium was transferred to the Department of Culture of the Nizhny Novgorod city administration.

Cooperation and International Ties

The Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium works closely with the Nizhny Novgorod Circle of Physics and Astronomy Enthusiasts, the Euro-Asian Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Association of Planetariums of Ukraine, and other organizations of a scientific and educational nature.

For its educational and outreach activities, the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Research Radiophysics Institute, the Nizhny Novgorod Pedagogical University named after Gorky, Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevsky, the Moscow Aviation Institute, the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, the Sternberg State Astronomical Institute (Moscow State University), and others all contribute highly qualified specialists to the Planetarium.

Interesting Facts

  • The Planetarium in Nizhny Novgorod was the second planetarium to open in the USSR.
  • The opening of the Grand Star Hall of the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium was timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Space Age and took place on 4 October 2007.
  • In late 2007, the planetarium installed the country's only space docking simulator, which allows users to dock spacecraft. The simulator is designed for manual approach, docking, and re-docking of the Russian crewed spacecraft Soyuz-TMA to various ports of the International Space Station. The device was created with the participation of specialists from the Russian Cosmonaut Training Center.
  • Honorary members of the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium's team include: Professor Ya.I. Khanin, Deputy Director of the Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences; pilot-cosmonaut and twice Hero of the USSR G.M. Grechko; Professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute and Academician of the K.E. Tsiolkovsky Academy of Cosmonautics G.A. Poltavets; research cosmonaut V.L. Ponomareva; and test cosmonaut, Doctor of Technical Sciences, and Professor M.N. Burdaev.

Contact Information

MUK "Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium" — the institution's full official name is MAUK "Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium named after G.M. Grechko"; the planetarium bears the name of pilot-cosmonaut and twice Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Mikhailovich Grechko.[1] Russia, 603002, Nizhny Novgorod, ul. Revolyutsionnaya, 20, tel.: (831) 246-77-89, (831) 246-70-65.

Call 272-50-94 on weekdays (from 10:00 to 17:00) to reserve tickets for any screening. Tickets must be collected no later than one hour before the start of the screening. In the 2020s, the planetarium operates Wednesday through Sunday from 10:00 to 20:00; Monday and Tuesday are days off.[1]

Current Programme for the Upcoming Weekend

Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium Repertoire

Official Website

See also

Sources

  1. planetarium-nn.ru — The Planetarium bears the name of cosmonaut-pilot and twice Hero of the Soviet Union Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko: full official… (archive)
  2. nne.ru — A prayer service was held for the first time in 86 years at the Church of St. Alexius of the Blagoveschenskiy Monastery (website of the Nizhny Novgorod Metropolis, 27.12.2005) (archive)

Sources

  1. planetarium-nn.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium named after G. M. Grechko — About Us
  2. NNTV — The Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium has been named after cosmonaut Georgy Mikhaylovich Grechko (April 11, 2016) (archive)
  3. Administration of Nizhny Novgorod — The Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium named after G. M. Grechko opens a new season (archive)
  4. Vremya N — More than 60,000 Nizhny Novgorod residents and visitors attended the Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium in 2026 (June 19, 2026) (archive)
  5. planetarium-nn.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Planetarium named after G. M. Grechko (archive)