The Windows to New Worlds project will position the South Carolina State Museum on the cutting edge of education, particularly in the critical areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  Its innovative combination of facilities and services will create a complex unique not only to South Carolina, but to the nation.  The expanded and renovated S.C. State Museum will be the first of its kind in the U.S. to have under one roof an on-site and online observatory and classroom, 55-foot digital planetarium dome and theater, 4D multisensory theater, plus an outdoor telescope viewing terrace and distance learning studio.  A world-class vintage telescope and astronomical instruments collection also has been donated to the museum directly as a result of this project. 

 

Centrally located for maximum accessibility to the state’s population and those beyond, this facility will attract between 210,000 and 260,000 participants of all ages, from kindergarten pupils to parents and grandparents.  The State Museum is being transformed into an even more outstanding educational and cultural resource for all South Carolinians, a significant attraction for tourism and a major economic benefit to the state.

 

A non-recurring investment of $20.5 million will erect and equip these facilities, which will then be supported by earned revenues and continued private donations.

Its main elements will be:

• Observatory

• Digital Dome Planetarium

• 4-D Theater

 

• The Robert B. Ariail Collection of Historical Astronomy