It is a journey that for us Greeks starts from antiquity. In modern times, it was the Eugenides Planetarium that allowed Greece to look to the stars again, revealing a literally “wondrous new world” to the eyes of the spectators.

In its course since 1966, through continuous investments from the Foundation’s own funds, the Planetarium has always been equipped with cutting-edge technological machinery, capable of reproducing on its huge dome the “unknown” and the vastness of the Universe.

Today, the Eugenides Planetarium has entered the new digital era and is the largest and best planetarium in the world, having “travelled” in Space more than 7,000,000 visitors, which is less than the population of the country.

Five months after the last major upgrade, 20 years since the opening of the New Digital Planetarium and almost 60 since it first opened its doors, this unique and valuable infrastructure continues to expand our horizons.

It all started from the will of the national benefactor Eugene Eugenides, who after a magnificent international business career, with a focus on shipping, in 1953, on the occasion of the moves to repatriate Greek-owned shipping, became the first Greek shipowner to register his ship in the Greek registry.

At the same time, he developed a rich humanitarian activity until his untimely death in 1954.

However, having foreseen the rapid development of the country’s industrialisation and the need for a large number of adequately trained craftsmen, he decided to create an institution with the aim of ‘contributing to the education of young Greeks in technical and scientific fields’.

In order to implement his decision, he disposed of his entire property in Greece and a large part of his property abroad, ensuring the financial independence of his Foundation, which since its establishment in February 1956 has been operating, maintained, expanded and modernised with its own resources alone.

The current President of the Foundation, Leonidas Dimitriadis-Eugenides

The innovations

Its systematic technological upgrading has made the planetarium one of the best in the world, with a particularly significant educational and social footprint.

In the last 20 years alone, 75 performances have been shown in 50,000 screenings, attended by 4.5 million spectators.

Equally impressive are the figures for the new technical facilities, which include :

– Eight new high-definition three-laser projectors, with a total resolution of 7.5K. This upgrade transforms the dome of the New Digital Planetarium into one of the brightest in the world.

– Sound systems with state-of-the-art equipment.

– New computers and automation systems, new LED lights, software upgrades.

– Addition of wireless headsets for listening in English for foreign visitors.

The Eugenides Planetarium today

“Illuminating the unknown”

Speaking to “THEMA”, Eugenides Foundation Administrator, Ioannis Golias said: “For almost 70 years, the course of the Eugenides Foundation has been identified with the concept of pioneering. For over 70 years, the Eugenides Foundation has been at the forefront of the history of the Foundation.

The extremely innovative thinking of Marianthi Simou, who put Eugene Eugenides’ vision into practice, was the reason why Greece today has one of the largest and best-equipped planetariums in the world.

From the Eugenides Foundation’s Planetarium Dome, from the first screening until today, our concern is to illuminate the fascinating and exciting “unknown”, to act as a gateway to knowledge about Space and man throughout Greek society, to provoke the thoughts, curiosity and dreams of young and old alike.

On the educational character of the Planetarium, Mr Golias said that “at a time when the rapid development of technology creates many opportunities and challenges around the modern ways of learning and training of the new generation, the influential educational and cultural character of the New Digital Planetarium can play a key role in the dissemination of important knowledge through immersive audiovisual performances”.

For his part, the director of the Planetarium Manos Kitsonas, speaking to “THEMA”, refers to a “sense of immersion in the projection and an immersive experience”.

Regarding the new technical possibilities, he explains that the brightness and resolution of the image have been multiplied by the installation of new digital projectors with three lasers and new computers and graphics cards.

“We have now reached a maximum possible brightness of 280,000 lumens instead of the 78,000 lumens we had before, which is 3.5 times higher.

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Similarly, the resolution of the image in the Dome has reached 35 million pixels instead of the 10 million it was before. The sound has been further improved by the installation of a new system, while all the equipment (lights, automation, software, additional functions, wireless headphones) has been upgraded to the latest technology.”

Social contribution

It has granted more than 800 scholarships and is “present” in every difficult moment of Greek society.

The Eugenides Foundation is a public benefit foundation which, since its establishment in 1956, has served its fundamental objective of providing young people with systematic educational activities with scientific and technological concepts for the acquisition of knowledge and skills for applied professions in the technical sector.

At the same time, it is “present” in every difficult moment of Greek society, such as the 1999 earthquakes, when the then President Nikolaos Vernikos-Eugenides decided to donate 900 million drachmas for the restoration of damage caused to school buildings.

Its rich social work continues today under the presidency of Leonidas Dimitriadis-Eugenides. Since 2000, the Foundation has been making significant donations, including the restoration of the damage caused by the 2014 earthquakes and the complete renovation of the Ionian Islands Merchant Marine Academy, the repair of the AEN Kymi, and a number of donations of laboratory equipment to “AENs” and “EPAL” throughout the country, covering the costs of participation of scientists in scientific conferences, donations of books to schools, educational institutions and the Ministry of Shipping, scientific research and the organisation of conferences on maritime education.

The same contribution was also shown during the national crisis to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, with the donation of more than EUR 1 million in large equipment donations to the hospitals “Sotiria”, “Attikon” and “Paidon”, the donation of two ambulances to the Ios and Gennadios Health Centres in Rhodes and donations for distance learning courses to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Shipping.

A special feature is the contribution, totalling over €1.6 million, of the Eugenides Foundation for 20 consecutive years to the birthplace of its founder Eugene Eugenides, Thrace.