Vitanje.. Out of this World!

Guess where the Slovenian space centre is located.. Ljubljana, no.. Maribor, no.. try "the middle of nowhere in a field", yep, that is exactly where it is!!

So you drive into the beautiful Slovenian countryside through cute little villages on narrow pretty roads and then you arrive in a lovely traditional village called Vitanje with a castle, churches and.. a massive alien looking lump of concrete rammed in next to a hill!!

OK, the reason the building is here is cos Vitanje was the home village of a famous Slovenian Space geezer.. Dr Spok would find this completely logical!

This must be the kookiest modern building in all Green Slovenia and the location is just bizarre, but once you get over that, there are several reasons to visit here..

there are many exhibits here inside the rock donut.. we learned a lot about the planets actually..
there are many exhibits here inside the rock donut.. we learned a lot about the planets actually..

 

If you are a space nut, then you will probably have gone to Florida or new Mexico, but you might be a space nut married to a regular person on holiday in Slovenia, so this facilty might be a welcome detour from Green paradise stuff like waterfalls and mountains? Or maybe one of the kids is a space nut and they haven't seen a piece of moon rock yet?

The other important factor is that despite being in the middle of Green nowhere, it is actually rather close to several secret places to visit, so it could be a very usefull literally "left field" addition to a day out visiting such places as Celje castle, Rogla mountain, Velenje coal mine or the Mozirski Gardens for example.

And of course we can make jokes about it being a car park, rock donut or crashed spaceship, but it really is a fantastic piece of modern architecture and people actually come here just to study the building itself!!

see the really steep gradient of this massive concrete structure.. it goes up and round like this all the way up to the top!
see the really steep gradient of this massive concrete structure.. it goes up and round like this all the way up to the top!

 

There is a main reception with friendly staff and then the building slides off upwards in a bulky circle around and around for several floors, so for most of the time in here you could easily feel more comfortable standing on one leg and other times you can gaze into space and thin air as you look over the barriers and deep down to the centre of the building.. way below!

It is packed with space exhibits, memorabilia and concentrates on the Slovenian contribution to space exploration. Most descriptions are also in English and there is a lot to read and look at.. We refreshed our basic knowledge of the solar system.

Like many Slovenian micro museums, this is a great place for a one hour stroll around, but if you have more interest you could easily be here for hours. They have a piece of moon rock, several interactive big screens and lots of gadgets to enjoy, some made in Slovenia. Also do pop up onto the roof for the alien view of cows, green hills and churches and then you also will get a complete understanding of the wierd & wonderful shape of this building.

We enjoyed our whizz around and were pleased we had made this little detour into the countryside. We had already eaten in the vineyards of Horseville before, so we didn't eat at the lovely traditional looking restaurant next to the main car park, but we would have loved to have tried it out.

Happy space travels in the centre of Green Slovenia!

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