[1] The idea of setting up a planetarium in Johannesburg was first discussed in 1956 when the Festival Committee — which had been instituted to organise the celebrations of Johannesburg's seventieth anniversary — decided to raise the funds necessary to buy and house a Zeiss planetarium to be set up for the celebrations.

After lengthy negotiations, the Festival Committee was successful in persuading the Parliament of Hamburg to sell their planetarium's projector which had been in use there since 1930.

The Hamburg projector was immediately dismantled and moved to Oberkochen for an overhaul, and was in time completely rebuilt.

Soon, the responsibilities of the Festival Committee were taken over by the Johannesburg City Council, which after further negotiations, sold the projector to the University of the Witwatersrand for use as both an academic facility for the instruction of students, and as a public amenity.

[1] The Johannesburg Planetarium is often consulted by the media, and the public, in order to explain unusual occurrences in the skies over South Africa.