Innovation Special Planetariums 9 - Carl Zeiss Planetariums

The New Reims Planetarium
Philippe Simonnet
Directeur d’Etablissement
Planétarium Municipal Reims
The Reims Municipal Planetarium was
officially opened on February 28, 1980.
The City of Reims was a pioneer in this
field as at that time there was only one
other planetarium in France, in the Palais
de la Découverte, which was opened for
the Universal Exhibition of 1937.
The Planetarium History
Equipped right from its opening with
a ZEISS SKYMASTER ZKP 2 planetarium
projector, the Reims planetarium has
been a consistent success with the
public with an average of about 30,000
people per year involved in its activities,
26,000 of whom visited the Planetarium’s
site itself. However, because of its
age and the fact that the planetarium is
located in the old Jesuit College, which
although very charming is out-dated,
the present configuration of the Reims
Planetarium has more than its fair share
of inconvenience – the number of seats
is limited (6 m dome with only 40 seats)
no development possible because of the
space available at the site, the planetarium
projector at the end of its working
life (33 years old), low level of comfort
for the public, limited site functionality
due to architectural constraints imposed
by the premises and poor visibility.
A project involving the expansion of the
planetarium and possibly moving it to
another site has therefore been on the
cards for many years but without taking
any specific form.
In 2008, the City of Reims took the decision
to establish the “Euro-American
Campus of Sciences Po” in the Jesuit
College which meant that a new site
had to be found for the planetarium.
The opportunity was therefore taken
to prepare plans for a larger building,
improve the facilities for the public
The new Reims Planetarium.
Rendering courtesy of JP Bonnemaison, Architecte.
and replace the obsolete planetarium
projectors. The teaching project was
also updated in order to take account
of the possibilities offered by the new
structure, particularly in terms of facilities
for new sectors of the public e.g.
handicapped persons, young people
from disadvantaged areas etc.) as well
as of opportunities for cooperation with
the Centers of Scientific, Technical and
Industrial Culture of the region.
General project objectives
The current activities of the Reims Planetarium
have been gradually developed
based on the experience gathered during
its operations over the last 30 years.
It had not been possible to develop
some of its activities to their full extent
because of the constraints associated
with the location of the planetarium in
non purpose-built premises and the lack
of space available for use.
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