Moscow Planetarium

The Moscow Planetarium is the oldest still-operating and one of the largest planetariums in Russia. It stands by the Garden Ring next to Moscow Zoo, within walking distance of Barrikadnaya and Krasnopresnenskaya metro stations, at 5 Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya Street.

History

The idea of building an astronomical centre in Moscow arose in 1927. Construction began on 23 September 1928, and the planetarium opened to visitors on 5 November 1929 — the thirteenth in the world and the first in the USSR. The building was designed by architects Mikhail Barsh and Mikhail Sinyavsky, with Georgy Zunblat as engineer.

During the Second World War the planetarium stayed open except for two months: it ran a course in celestial navigation for military scouts, helping them find their bearings by the stars. On 14 July 1994 the building closed for a major reconstruction that raised the main structure by six metres to fit two extra floors under the dome; it reopened to the public only on 12 June 2012. In 2024 it marked its 95th anniversary.

Halls and exhibits

The main hall, the Great Star Hall, is covered by a 25-metre dome and runs on a Universarium M9 projector made by the German company Carl Zeiss Jena, reproducing more than 9,000 stars; the hall seats 3,564 people. The Small Star Hall holds only 11 seats, has a stereoscopic dome screen and moving chairs, and shows films about the universe (admission from age 4).

The interactive Lunarium museum occupies two levels with 92 exhibits, where visitors can create their own clouds and tornadoes; seeing both levels takes 1–1.5 hours. Next to it is a 4D cinema with moving seats and special effects (admission from age 6). The Urania Museum, spread over two floors, holds astronomers' instruments, planet globes and a meteorite collection, including a 125-kilogram specimen, while its upper hall contains a scale model of the Solar System: a 3-metre hemisphere for Jupiter, 30 centimetres for Earth, and a 30-metre diameter for the Sun — equal to the diameter of the planetarium building itself.

Observatory and Sky Park

The Great Observatory houses a 300-millimetre Carl Zeiss Jena refracting telescope, the largest telescope in Moscow open to visitors, with guided tours running several times a day. The seasonal Sky Park astronomy site usually operates from May to September, 11:00 to 21:00, but is closed for renovation in 2026.

Getting there and visiting

The nearest metro station is Barrikadnaya (520 metres, exit from the last carriage heading away from the centre); Krasnopresnenskaya (750 metres) and Mayakovskaya (1.2 kilometres) are also close, and buses stop at Malaya Nikitskaya Street. There is no parking on site.

The planetarium is open daily from 10:00 to 21:00, with Tuesday a technical day. A ticket to the Small Star Hall costs 200 rubles, to the Lunarium 800 rubles on weekdays and 1,100 on weekends, to the Sky Park 150 rubles, and to the Great Observatory 300 rubles on weekends, with a guided tour there for 400 rubles. Children under 18 get a 10% discount, rising to 20% during their birthday week. Tickets for shows go on sale in advance, limited to five per person.