Almost a year and a half closed! The Nantes Planetarium had closed doors since the first sanitary confinement in March 2020. It was able to reopen to the public on Saturday and unveiled new developments made in recent months. The reception hall and the performance hall have been renovated. The furniture has been renewed, as well as the decoration. The walls were covered with new sound insulation.
The reception capacity was able to increase slightly (eight additional seats) to reach 59 places. A secondary exit airlock has also been created to facilitate the sometimes complicated flows. In particular, this will make it possible to accommodate “two school classes at the same time more easily,” explains Nantes Métropole, owner of the room.
The first visitors were able to take off with @Thom_astro and discover his daily life during the #MissionAlpha aboard the ISS. The session lasts 20min, and is accessible to children, are you coming? 🚀☄️🧑🚀
🔗 https://t.co/6q7Ld2TbUj
@Johanna_Rolland @AzilizGouez pic.twitter.com/YlmRDfD3kJ
– City of Nantes (@nantesfr) July 3, 2021
The Planetarium counted 57,000 annual visitors before the works. This summer, it will offer 45 sessions per week, accessible from 4 years old. Often complete, the Nantes equipment is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. When it was built, it was only the third planetarium in France. Today, there are nearly forty of them, some of which are much larger.