Observatory and Planetarium

The beginnings of amateur astronomy in Hradec Králové date back to around 1930, when a branch of the Czechoslovak Astronomical Society started its activities there. In the project of girls’ schools from 1931 in Lipky, Josef Gočár designed an astronomical observation dome as well.
 

It was not until after WWII, however, that a new observatory was built. A suitable location was chosen in the western part of the new city hill. The contemporary media said: “Experience shows that the location of the observatory was well chosen – there is completely free space in all directions, especially to the east, south and west. The north is screened by the mature lime trees. Observations are not disturbed by public lighting or other adverse phenomena.”
 

The design was created by architect Oldřich Šmída, a graduate and former collaborator of Josef Gočár. In Hradec Králové, he had already worked on the design and construction of Ulrichovo Square and Šimek Gardens in Gočár’s office. After WWII he became the director of the local Secondary School of Construction. The project was designed in 1946–1947. On 19 April 1947, the foundation stone was laid. Rough construction was completed in 1951, and the installation of astronomical equipment continued until 1954 when the observatory was put into operation. The director and teacher Oldřich Šmída also involved his colleagues and pupils when he asked them to design and manufacture a steel dome, which was completed in 1958. At the end of 1956, the observatory acquired a small projection instrument for the planetarium, and when it became operational, Oldřich Šmída declared his intention to add a large planetarium, which was built between 1958 and 1961 and opened on 25 June 1961. The observatory and planetarium was also to include a botanical garden, which had been planned by the city of Hradec Králové since the early 20th century. For this purpose, an ornamental rock garden was established in the vicinity, for which large stones were brought from the Giant Mountains.
 

In the basement of the building, there was a boiler room with fuel storage, a warehouse with workshops, a cellar, and the manager’s one-room apartment with a kitchen, toilet and pantry. The basement of the lecture hall wing housed a spectrograph and a solar observatory. On the ground floor, there were the astronomers’ offices, the naturalists’ offices, a meeting room, a book study, and an astronomer’s two-room apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, toilet and pantry. In the north, there was a wing with rounded corners, which housed a lecture hall for 200 people. In the south, there was a circular observation gallery connected to the main wing by a covered corridor. The first floor housed the director’s office, the director’s three-room apartment with a bathroom, toilet, pantry and maid’s room. There were also offices, a meteorologist’s office, a map store, a radio station, and an air-conditioned chamber. The apartment roof served as an observation and living terrace, divided into an astronomical and meteorological observatory. One small observatory was originally planned on the roof, which was later supplemented by more observatories. The building had three staircases: one main staircase connecting the central vestibules on all floors, a service staircase in the southeast corner of the wing, and a spiral staircase located between the main wing and the lecture hall wing.
 

The architect Oldřich Šmída designed an architectural form in the style of late functionalism; the building has a simple form and a rational and clear internal organization. The rounded shapes of the staircase shaft, the lecture hall wing and the large windows and glazed surfaces refer to the international style. As evidenced by the period press, the observatory was decorated with models of artificial satellites as well as planets and celestial bodies. 
 

LZL