Everything has been done to saving the building that the association could have done, Henrik Lőrincz told the news portal, adding that it has run out of resources to saving the planetarium.

“An investment of billions of forints is needed, including the development of [new] technology. But the renovation of the building is even more important as, with the exception of the dome, the whole roof needs to be dismantled and rebuilt,” Lőrincz told the online paper.

The astronomer also stressed that beyond the poor physical condition of the building, the planetarium is three or four generations behind in term of the technology it uses.

Lőrincz said that government appointed assessors had visited the institution weeks ago to assess conditions, and agreed that the planetarium needs to be saved, however the earliest time a decision could be taken by Parliament would be the fall session, according to Hungarian online news portal 444.hu.

Currently the planetarium offers three English-language shows: Light years from Andromeda (40 minutes), The Hubble Universe (32 min), and Wonders of the Sky (50 min).

By Christian Keszthelyi

Source: BBJ

Republished with permission