page_title: Montreal Planetarium
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Montreal Planetarium / History
caption_attribution_description: Picture of the electro-mechanical Zeiss planetarium projector located in the Montreal Planetarium. Picture taken February 24 2006.
context_page_description: The Montreal Planetarium is a decommissioned public planetarium located at Chaboillez Square just South-East of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It closed permanently in October 2011. A new facility, The Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, near Olympic Stadium in Montreal, opened in April 2013.
context_section_description: The planetarium was opened in advance of Expo 67 and inaugurated on April 1, 1966, by then-Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau. Its inaugural show, "New Skies for a New City", premiered on April 4, 1966. Work had commenced on the project more than three years before its launch, under the guidance of Dr. Pierre Gendron, a former professor of chemistry and founding Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Ottawa, who was an avid amateur astronomer. As president of the Board of Directors of Dow Breweries, Gendron convinced Dow to create a world-class planetarium in Montreal as part of the Canadian Centennial celebrations.
  The architectural firm selected for the project was David-Barott-Boulva. The chosen design had an astronomical theme and the exterior of the dome resembled Saturn surrounded by its rings. The Planetarium was built at a cost of $1.2 million on the site of the historic Bonaventure Station on Chaboillez Square near Old Montreal.
  The Planetarium produced more than 250 shows, was visited by nearly six million spectators and made more than 58,000 presentations in both French and English. The Planetarium was one of Montreal's most popular tourist attractions.
caption: The Zeiss planetarium projector.
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