Friends of the
Zeiss Public
Statement For
Telephone: 412-561-7876 By Glenn A.
Walsh:
Electronic Mail: < friendsofthezeiss@planetarium.cc >
Internet Web Site: < http://www.planetarium.cc > Zeiss II
Reassembly
2007 March 26
Good
afternoon, I am Glenn A. Walsh of
In
2002, The Carnegie Science Center dismantled three historic artifacts, from the
original Buhl Planetarium and placed them in storage in their warehouse.
They
promised the City of
in the world, and the large Mercator’s Projection Map of the World
would be reassembled by the end of 2005. They also said the 10-inch
Siderostat-type
Refractor
Telescope would be reassembled once the
With
the May, 2003 collapse of the proposed $90 million expansion project,
a
year; they said nothing about reassembly of the other two artifacts. That
second deadline has come and gone with no effort on the part of the
reassemble
any of the three historic artifacts. Oh, last year they did apply-for, receive,
and spend a one million-dollar grant to totally renovate the existing
planetarium
into the “Buhl Digital Dome;” but not one penny was spent to restore Buhl
Planetarium historic artifacts!
The reassembly of the Zeiss
Projector had been planned for the second floor, near the current planetarium
entrance. Without a
reassembly would take space
away from the
As I mentioned last year, I
doubted the
Immediately following the RAD
Board meeting a year ago, new Carnegie Institute President David Hillenbrand
told me that plans were still underway for
reassembly of the historic
artifacts; I have heard nothing since.
It
is now quite clear that The Carnegie Science Center has no interest in the
historic Buhl Planetarium artifacts and has no intentions of reassembling them;
they
do not see display of these artifacts as part of their mission. All of their
“delays” are simply meant to drag-out the process, hoping that people will
forget
these
artifacts exist—the old adage: “out of sight, out of mind” !
The
Zeiss Projector, Siderostat Telescope, and Mercator’s Map belong in a location
where they can actually be used to teach Science to children. This cannot and
will
not happen at The Carnegie Science Center. It can only happen in the original
Buhl Planetarium building, now being used by the Children’s Museum.
I
ask you to use your influence to have these three City-owned artifacts returned
to the City-owned Buhl Planetarium building, to be used to teach Science to
children
visiting
the Children's Museum. Otherwise, they will languish in warehouse storage
indefinitely, collecting dust and educating no one.
Thank
you.
gaw