Braila City's historical Water Tower sitting in the Great Garden is in for refurbishment under a EU-funded project worth 4.3 million euros and will be repurposed into a tourist astronomical observatory. The retrofitting works kicked off in October 2021, with state-of-the-art methods that will provide the monument a lifespan at least equal to its current age.
Built 110 years ago, the Water Tower was the first construction in Braila to use reinforced concrete and was considered the tallest in Romania at that time.
During its service life, the tower supplied with water half of the city's population; built in 1912, it was handed over to the Consumcoop cooperative in 1978 for redevelopment and transformation into a public catering facility that saw it fitted with a revolving bar and a confectionery providing a panoramic view of the city.
The project for the Water Tower's repurposing into a tourist astronomical observatory provides for the construction in the basement of six 7D mini movie theatres, a mirror room, five exhibition spaces featuring the history of the tower, where the building's model and images related to its construction and rehabilitation will be showcased, as well as a replica of the spacesuit used in the Apollo 11 mission.
The stairwell will be decorated on the entire height of the tower with UV paintings of our solar system's planets and other celestial bodies, while floors 2 to 4 will accommodate exhibition spaces with 2D and 3D images of galaxies, galaxy swarms and celestial bodies. On the 5th floor, at 18.10 meters above ground, a projection room will be set up connected to the astronomical observatory in the dome.
The project also provides for the restoration of the revolving platform on the sixth floor, at a 25.45-meter altitude, where the famous restaurant was offering a 360-degree view of the city and the Danube. Also planned is the installation of two mobile telescopes that will beam the captured images on large LED screens. Finally, the ultimate treat for stargazers will be the high power telescope located in the dome of the observatory, at an altitude of 28.06 metres, Agerpres informs.
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