A voyage through time and space at the speed of light and of our imagination - this is what planetariums in Bulgaria offer. Bulgaria's largest planetarium is located in the town of Smolyan in the Rhodope mountains.

The planetarium was opened for the first time in 1975. It has a star hall with a dome-shaped ceiling, which recreates an exact copy of the real starry sky. Special technology is used to replicate the movement of celestial bodies in the solar system.

• Closer to the stars: Smolyan planetarium

Another planetarium – in the port city of Varna – is equipped with the so-called Foucault's Pendulum, which is the only one in the Balkans. Its star hall has capacity of 80 seats.

There are 7 permanent planetariums in Bulgaria. In addition to Smolyan and Varna, there are also planetariums in Dimitrovgrad, Yambol, Stara Zagora and Gabrovo. The first new digital planetarium was installed in the Kamchia complex near Varna.

A digital planetarium has also been operating since 2015 in Plovdiv, we learn from the story by Desislava Semkovska, included in Radio Bulgaria’s collection.

Compiled by: Veneta Nikolova