Cosmonova, Planetarium and IMAX theatre at Swedish Museum of Natural History in Norra Djurgården, Sweden
Cosmonova is an IMAX Dome cinema and planetarium in a twelve-sided brick annex on the north side of the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm. Its perforated aluminium dome measures 23 metres across and seats 262 people on a steeply raked slope. The programme centres on films about space, nature and science.
Cosmonova opened in October 1992 as the first IMAX cinema in Sweden and one of the earliest in the Nordic countries. Its opening marked a new chapter for the museum, which had until then been known mainly for its natural history collections.
Cosmonova is a regular destination for school groups and families who come to watch nature and space documentaries together on the dome. Watching a film here feels different from a regular cinema because the image surrounds you completely, drawing everyone into the same shared view.
Booking tickets in advance is a good idea, especially on weekends or during school holidays when screenings tend to fill up quickly. Since Cosmonova sits inside the natural history museum, you can easily combine your visit with a walk through the museum's galleries.
Although the dome is primarily used for IMAX screenings, it can also function as a traditional planetarium, projecting a star map directly onto the ceiling. This makes Cosmonova one of the few venues in Scandinavia that can switch between the two formats in the same room.
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