As of: February 18, 2024, 6:00 p.m
By: Felicitas Bogner
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In front of a small audience (from left) Karl-Heinz Bille, Franz-Xaver Kohlhauf and Albert Maly-Motta showed what a unique view of the starry sky is possible in the planetarium.
© arp
The planetarium in Bad Tölz has been around for ten years now.
The initiators demonstrated the technology at a ceremony to mark the anniversary.
Bad Tölz –
Whatever the weather and at any time of day or night, the planetarium in Bad Tölz offers a perfect view of the stars.
The initiators of the planetarium on Schlossplatz - Albert Maly-Motta and Karl-Heinz Bille - ensured that such a special offer has been available in the spa town for ten years now.
To mark the anniversary, there was a small on-site celebration on Friday afternoon - including a film screening and, how could it be otherwise, a virtual journey through the universe, led by Albert Maly-Motta and Franz-Xaver Kohlhauf.
The initiators initially impressed the Tölz city councilors with their vision of bringing the infinite expanses of space closer to young and old - because the idea for the opening came about when a building next to the puppet theater had to be demolished.
“One challenge back then was financing,” recalled the then mayor of Tölz, Josef Janker.
“The big advantage was that Albert Maly-Motta already had a device with which he could demonstrate to the city councilors on a smaller scale on a wall what great insight it provides.” In collaboration with Uwe Mertens' Tölzer architectural office, a not was created All-too-ordinary building construct that houses the planetarium in the basement and ground floor and - in the spirit of mixed financing - apartments and offices on the upper floors.
Building the dome was a huge challenge
Implementation was not an easy task.
Although Uwe Mertens has always “really enjoyed” exotic building projects, he had never designed a planetarium until this point.
“The dome presented us with a very big hurdle,” the architect told our newspaper.
Because: “The rounding really had to be accurate to the millimeter, otherwise the projection wouldn’t have worked.” At first, no one was found who was up to this challenge.
Mertens even received rejections from well-known large companies.
“Finally, an older master bricklayer from the Schneider construction company contacted us and said he could do it to the millimeter.” Maly-Motta also praised this high level of craftsmanship in his short speech.
Uwe Mertens Architect © arp
Since 2014, the artificial starry sky has been delighting numerous locals and visitors.
Franz-Xaver Kohlhauf is responsible for the demonstrations.
The highlights for the hobby astronomer are still the encounters with children and school classes.
“I am always amazed at what knowledge children bring with them and how enthusiastic they are about the universe and the planets.”
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Planetarium Bad Tölz attracts scientists
The Tölzer Planetarium also attracts astronomy professionals and scientists.
For example, the physicist Dr.
Wolfgang Holota, who worked on the development of the JWST space telescope (successor to “Hubble”).
Holota and his wife – also a physicist – came to the ceremony.
They have also held demonstrations in the planetarium - as the film made by Kohlhauf reminded us of the past few years.
“This can plant the seeds for children to develop an interest in natural sciences,” emphasized Holota.
Maly-Motta added: “The exchange with astronomers and physicists and the network that has been built is amazing.” But the star simulator is not just for virtual journeys over Mars and Jupiter.
The planetarium is also a platform for events and celebrations, and even weddings are held here.
Special feature: weddings in the planetarium
According to the registrar Wolfgang Steger, weddings in the planetarium are an absolute highlight.
“This naturally attracts couples who want to do something very special on their wedding day.” There are already eight planned weddings under the fictitious starry sky this year.
“Some people just like the romantic idea behind it,” says Franz-Xaver Kohlhauf, who also likes to give demonstrations and explain constellations at these weddings.
“For many people, astrological interest also comes into play and they want their constellations and star signs to be explained in more detail,” says Steger.
The incumbent mayor, Ingo Mehner, was happy about the variety that the star simulator offers.
“It gives the city so much more than an explanation of the stars.
We are very grateful for this impulse.”
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