Tamasos bishopric to host high-tech planetarium

A ground-breaking ceremony took place on Saturday for one of the largest planetariums and digital projection domes in the Eastern Mediterranean, to be erected on the grounds of the Tamasos Bishopric in the Nicosia district.

The project, funded by Russian businessman Viacheslav Zarenkov who also built the first Russian-style church on the island, is expected to be completed within less than two years.

The T&O Cyprus Planetarium and Gallery Centre will be located in the courtyard of the Bishopric of Tamasos in Episkopio, near the church Zarenkov funded.

The Bishop of Tamasos, Isaias, said that the planetarium will offer educational programmes for the study of the universe. The project, he said, has been a vision of his bishopric as it contributes to “decoding the wisdom of God”.

“God, as creator of the universe installed his own codes for its creation and operation,” he said.

He described the science of creation as the basis of “the theology of creation which proves the relation between science and faith”.

“Science is the way in which God created the world and there is a harmony and agreement between faith and science. The planetarium will highlight this relationship of science and theology and present through its digital spaces, the grandeur of heaven and earth in a scientific and educational way for all people,” the bishop said.

Zarenkov said that the cutting-edge technology that will be used to build and operate the planetarium will make it a valuable tool where children and adults will be educated about the beauties of space and of the universe in general.

The aim, the bishopric said in a statement, “is to make the planetarium a source of inspiration for further learning, observation and vision of space, for people to discover through this journey of research the true love of God the Creator and Architect of the universe.”

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