The Planetarium in Smolyan is the largest planetarium in Bulgaria. It opened its doors on September 6, 1975 and has since been visited by over 2.5 million people.

In order to popularize astronomical knowledge the Planetarium offers more than 50 lecture shows in the Star Hall. Some popular tales are made into children’s shows while for the general public there are topical astronomical and special shows. The Planetarium offers to its foreign visitors programs in multiple different languages: Russian, French, German, English, Greek and Turkish. A series of special programs - music and poetry – add to the variety of the show.

The Planetarium works with students from all forms of the Bulgarian school, as well as with preschool children. A lot of educational lectures related to the school studies in Astronomy, Physics and Geography are worked up and delivered here. There are also groups of students fond of astronomy permanently participating in the activities of the planetarium. These students are organized in a Youth’s Astronomical Club. Every summer these students take part in three different camp-schools. The beginners and mid-level students’ camps take part in the observation in the Planetarium, whereas the advanced student camp takes part in the observations from the National Astronomical Observatory, Rozhen. The Youth’s Astronomical Club gets to observe both visually and photographically, different astronomical events, such as: lunar and solar eclipses, conjunctions, passages, meteors, solar activities and etc.

The planetarium also works with the region’s students studying physics and geography, along with their teachers. Lots of methodology materials and training seminars are organized for them.