<brněnská hvězdárna v červnu ukončí provoz a začne dostavba</br> The Brno Observatory will cease operations in June and commence renovations

Brno - The digital exhibition, modern astronomical telescopes, observatories with views of the city, and quality visitor facilities will be brought to the Brno Observatory by a long-planned extension and reconstruction. The Observatory and Planetarium of Nikolaus Copernicus on Kraví hora will close to the public in June and will welcome visitors again only at the end of 2011. The reconstruction, costing 87 million crowns, is largely funded by money from European funds, with approximately 22 million invested in the project by the city of Brno, the observatory's management announced to ČTK.
    According to the project, the observatory and planetarium will become a Natural Science Exploratorium, which will focus not only on astronomy but also on other natural sciences. According to director Jiří Dušek, the observatory is not meant to be a museum but rather a lively, active, and entertaining place. Visitors will not just be passive spectators, but also participants and co-creators of the offered programs.
    The observatory promises not only a shift in program focus but also noticeable architectural changes designed by architect Martin Rudiš. The goal is to repair and complete the buildings of the observatory to create a functional whole, allowing for more economical operations. The architectural design also includes adjustments and enhancements to the surrounding park on Kraví hora.
    The observatory received its building permit on May 9 after many months of complications. The selection of the general contractor for the construction began the very next day.
    “Kraví hora will become a symbolic harbor from which one can set sail into space, as well as an island of rationality in a flood of irrational fantasies, providing positive motivation for scientific research,” the observatory stated in a kind of program declaration of its overall "restart."
    Progress of the work and the observatory's program until its closure can be followed on the observatory's website. The patron of the reconstruction is Vladimír Remek, the only Czech astronaut.