Griffith Observatory – Virtual Tour

The Griffith Observatory is located on the south-facing slope of Mount Hollywood in Los Angeles’ Griffith Park. The observatory exhibits an extensive array of space and science-related displays and provides commanding views of the Los Angeles Basin.

Over 7 million people have had the opportunity to view space through the 12-inch Zeiss refractor telescope, since the Observatory’s 1935 opening.

In 1896, 3,015 acres (12.20 km2) of land surrounding the observatory was donated to the City of Los Angeles to build an observatory, exhibit hall, and planetarium on the donated land. Griffith J. Griffith’s, an industrialist and philanthropist, made the donation intending to make astronomy accessible to the public.

The observatory and accompanying exhibits were opened to the public in 1935, as America’s third planetarium. The building combines Greek and Beaux-Arts influences, and the art deco exterior is embellished with the Greek key pattern.

During World War II, the planetarium was used to train pilots in celestial navigation. The planetarium was again used for this purpose in the 1960s to train Apollo program astronauts for the first lunar missions.

In 2006, the observatory was significantly expanded with an underground expansion and entirely new exhibits, including the Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon Theater.

The observatory was split up into six sections:

• The Wilder Hall of the Eye
• The Hall of the Sky
• The Central Rotunda
• The Cosmic Connection
• The Gunther Depths of Space Hall
• The Edge of Space Mezzanine

Highlights of the Griffith Observatory

• Planetarium shows at the Observatory
• Public Telescope Viewing
• The historic Zeiss Telescope on the roof
• Views of the Pacific Ocean, the Hollywood Sign, and Downtown Los Angeles
• A large Tesla coil, dubbed “GPO-1” – built in 1910
• The Depths of Space Hall
• Meteorite displays
• “The Big Picture” – a 150 feet (46 m) by 20 feet (6.1 m) photograph, the largest astronomical image in the world
• A bronze statue of Albert Einstein sitting on a bench
• The Cosmic Connection hallway
• The Big Bang Exhibit
• A Foucault pendulum that demonstrates the Earth’s rotation
• A “Camera Obscura” Exhibit
• Astronomical Tools Exhibit with telescopes and how they evolved over time

Griffith Observatory

• Name:               Griffith Observatory
• City:                   Los Angeles
• Country:            United States
• Inaugurated:     1935
• Type:                 Observatory Museum, Science Museums
• Category:          Specialist Museum, Science Museum, Space Museums
• Location:          Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, United States

 

Griffith Observatory – Map

Griffith Observatory – 360 View

Griffith Observatory – 360 View

Griffith Observatory – 360 View

Griffith Observatory – 360 View

Griffith Observatory – 360 View

Griffith Observatory – 360 View

Griffith Observatory

Explore American Museums

• New York Museums

  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art or MET
  • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
  • Intrepid, Sea, Air & Space Museum
  • Neue Galerie New York
  • The Cloisters
  • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
  • American Museum of Natural History
  • Museum of the City of New York
  • New-York Historical Society
  • Frick Collection
  • Met Breuer
  • Rubin Museum of Art
  • Brooklyn Museum

Griffith Observatory

• Washington, D.C. Museums

  • National Gallery of Art
  • National Museum of American History
  • National Air and Space Museum
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture
  • National Museum of Natural History
  • National Portrait Gallery
  • Smithsonian American Art Museum
  • The Phillips Collection
  • Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
  • International Spy Museum

Griffith Observatory

• Boston Museum

  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
  • Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
  • Harvard Art Museums
  • Freedom Trail
  • John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
  • USS Constitution
  • Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard

Griffith Observatory

• Los Angeles Museums

  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)
  • Getty Museum
  • California Science Center
  • Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County
  • The Broad
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
  • Petersen Automotive Museum
  • Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

Griffith Observatory

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“For my part, I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.“
– Vincent Van Gogh

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Photo Credit: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer / Public domain; Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net). / CC BY-SA (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0); PictorialEvidence / CC BY-SA (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0); Alexander Migl / CC BY-SA (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)