The H.R. MacMillan Space Centre, is an astronomy museum located at

Vanier Park Vanier Park is a municipal park located in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, created in 1967. It is home to the Museum of Vancouver, the Vancouver Maritime Museum, the City of Vancouver Archives, and the H.R. Ma ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

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. The museum was opened on October 28, 1968 containing a Planetarium Star Theatre. Today the museum includes an exhibit gallery and demonstration theatre where public lectures and events are hosted. The museum shares the building with the

Museum of Vancouver The Museum of Vancouver (MOV) (formerly the Vancouver Museum and prior to that the Centennial Museum) is a civic history museum located in Vanier Park, Vancouver, British Columbia. The MOV is the largest civic museum in Canada and the oldest museum ...

. Next to the building is the Gordon MacMillan Southam Observatory.

Name

The Space Centre is named after H. R. MacMillan, a local lumber magnate and philanthropist, who paid for the inclusion of the Planetarium Theatre into the design of the Centennial Museum Building. To this day, locals also refer to the Space Centre as the Planetarium.

Design

The building was designed in the 1960s by architect Gerald HamiltonVancouver Museum - About Us
to house what was then called The Centennial Museum. The planetarium was added as part of a pre-construction re-design after a donation by H.R. Macmillan. Outside the museum is a sculpture by George Norris called ''The Crab''. Norris's sculpture won a 1967 design competition. The Space Centre originated as the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium until its re-branding in the 1990s when it expanded to include exhibit space into one of the wings of the building it shares with the

. The facility was refurbished and renovated to include the Space Centre exhibit space in 1997-98 by Matsuzaki Wright Architects.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Vancouver Planetaria in Canada Museums in Vancouver Science museums in Canada Kitsilano