Irkutsk astrophysicists created a fund to build a new planetarium and hope to open it for the citys 350th anniversary in 2011. A site on Sovetskaya Street has already been chosen, and city authorities have shown interest. The initiators stress that a modern planetarium is needed not only for science but also for education, especially after astronomy was removed from the school curriculum.

Through the efforts of astrophysicist scientists, a fund has been established in the city to support the construction of a planetarium. The scientists plan to open the planetarium by the city’s 350th anniversary in 2011. City authorities have already shown interest in the project. "We are now arranging the land on which the building for the planetarium is planned to be constructed. A 840-square-meter plot has been selected in the area of Sovetskaya Street," said Dmitry Semenov, president of this fund and an employee of the astronomical observatory of Irkutsk State University (ISU).
In 1986, the Irkutsk Planetarium, which was housed in the Church of the Holy Trinity, was closed for major repairs. The building was in a dilapidated state, and plaster was crumbling from the vaulted ceiling. Then a decision was made to return the church to the Irkutsk diocese. "Which, on the whole, is basically right — the church was not built to house a planetarium," says Sergey Yazev, director of the astronomical observatory of Irkutsk State University. This is also confirmed by the history of the church, built in the 18th century on the Poteryakhi swamps. The church stood for more than a century and a half, when in 1931 it was given over to a workers' dormitory. Seventeen years later, the Orthodox community appealed to the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the church was returned to the faithful. For less than a year. They did not even have time to install an iconostasis there. And in September 1949, the building became a planetarium.
Today the church is functioning, and there is no planetarium in the city. "The instrument was preserved in the Irkutsk astronomical club," says Sergey Yazev. "But it is morally outdated, although 30-40 years ago it could have made a strong impression. What is needed here is modern digital technology."
"There are inexpensive Chinese planetariums. Excellent equipment in Germany and Japan costs 10 times more. We, however, intend to order projection equipment in St. Petersburg," noted D. Semenov.
The main task of the planetarium is educational. This year astronomy was removed from the school curriculum, so the already shallow knowledge schoolchildren have of this fascinating subject will become even poorer. Already now many have a very vague idea of how the world works. Thus, according to the results of one sociological survey, a third of respondents in Russia and Europe have no idea what revolves around what — the Earth around the Sun or vice versa.
The cities of Siberia are solving the problem in their own way. Recently, the planetarium in Kemerovo was restored. A modern planetarium is being designed in Novosibirsk. Moreover, city authorities are confident that this project will pay for itself. Good planetariums all over the world attract tourists. Planetariums around the world are huge entertainment complexes. With attractions, museums of popular science, cafes, souvenir shops.
Irkutsk scientists already appealed to the city administration in 2003 with a request to finance a project for placing a planetarium in an old little shop in Akademgorodok. A 6-8 meter dome was to be added to the building, and the old apparatus installed. About 2.3 million rubles were needed for this modest project. And the city administration gave preliminary approval. But later, due to a budget deficit, the project was excluded from the budget. And now it is simply morally outdated.
We hope that the current project of the local scientists will still be implemented, and that in 2011 we will be able to see the starry sky in all its beauty.