Some 17 years have passed and the epic reconstruction of the Moscow Planetarium is finally over. On Monday, the museum complex that has gown almost six-fold, becoming one of the largest in the world, opened to the public. ­Moscow`s Planetarium, recognized as the oldest one in Russia, was founded on the decision of the Moscow Council for the Propagation of Science about the Universe. It first opened its doors on November 5, 1929. Two architects, Mikhail Barshch and Mikhail Sinyavsky, captured the spirit of the time with their futuristic silver-domed design for the future constructivist monument of architecture - the Moscow Planetarium. For more photos from the opening visit RT`s Planetarium Gallery The museum`s activity was aimed at broadcasting science on astronomy and cosmonautics into the minds of Soviet people and forming a scientific outlook, rather than religious. The Planetarium also became a research center where scientists could work using what was then cutting-edge equipment. In 1977, the Planetarium underwent minor reconstruction. And 13 years later, in 1990, the Planetarium opened an observatory equipped with the biggest telescope in Moscow. However, from the very first day the museum`s premises remained without any major repair and reconstruction works. The building went into decay. On July 14, 1994, the Moscow Planetarium was closed for reconstruction that has only just been completed. Now the Moscow Planetarium is a modern center of cosmology with several levels and some 17,000 square meters of space in its possession. The new Planetarium is displaying huge models of space objects, a scale model of the Solar System and fragments of real meteorites. Another section of the display turns towards the technical achievements of the past, for example the famous Foucault`s pendulum. The real pride and joy of the new planetarium is Universarium í9 - the star projector that is capable of displaying the starry sky over different cities of the world and shows what the night sky looked like to the people who lived thousands of years ago. The planetarium has a lot to offer, however, the impression from all the highlights mentioned above will probably be incomplete without this one: the interactive level where every exhibit is a mini-laboratory and anyone can play and carry out experiments - create a mini-tornado or a black hole and even catch lightning.