The Science Museum of Virginia is located in Richmond, Virginia. Established in 1970, it is an agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is housed in the former Broad Street Station, built in 1917.
History
In 1906, the Virginia General Assembly approved funds for constructing a simple “exhibits center” to display mineral and timber exhibits assembled for the Jamestown Exposition of 1907. After the exposition ended, many items were moved to Richmond‘s Capitol Square. The “State Museum,” as it came to be known, opened in 1910, adding displays of natural history specimens from various state agencies to its collection over the years.
Exhibit History
A remodeled and greatly expanded Aquarium opened in 1981. That same year, the world’s largest analemmatic sundial was dedicated in the Museum’s parking lot. It would later be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.
In 1982 the Museum introduced Crystal World, the world’s largest and most comprehensive exhibit on crystallography. Also introduced was the Solar Challenger, the world’s first successful solar airplane, which had just completed a world tour to celebrate its first solar-powered flight from Paris to London. Bed Bug Exterminator Richmond
In 1983 the Museum dedicated its new Universe Planetarium & Space Theater, now called The Dome. The Theater’s Evans & Sutherland Digistar planetarium projector was the world’s first computer/video planetarium projection system and the first that could take visitors on simulated trips through both time and space. Its film projection system was only one of a handful worldwide capable of showing 70 mm OMNIMAX films. The theater’s sound system featured over one hundred speakers and generated enough power to simulate earthquakes and rocket lift-offs. The seventy-six-foot domed screen of the theater itself was then the world’s largest. It is still the largest screen in Virginia to this day.
In 2003 the Museum unveiled the Grand Kugel, the world’s largest kugel ball, at the cost of $1.5 million. The Grand Kugel was originally carved from an 86-ton South African black granite block. It was 8 feet and 8.7 inches in diameter and floated on a granite base. Shortly after installation, the Grand Kugel began to crack. The crack eventually spread through the sphere, rendering it inflatable. A replacement kugel ball was installed in October 2005. The original kugel is still on display behind the museum.
In the former train loading area, which has been redeveloped, large static displays now include:
- Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) steam locomotive and tender, Kanawha class # 2732
- Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad (RF&P) “Car One” business car
- Aluminaut, the world’s first aluminum submarine, designed by and built for Richmond-based Reynolds Metals Company in the 1960s, is also notable for helping recover a “lost” U.S. atomic bomb in 1966.
Address: 2500 W Broad St, Richmond, VA
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