Another interested party is a Catalonian hotel group, Oriente Medio, which would like to build a hotel for astronomical observation. Any project envisaged by a potential buyer would have to maintain the current scientific use. The final decision on the sale would be up to the administrators who have been handling the affairs of the bankrupt observatory, which is on the market for 1.7 million euros.
The director of the observatory, Salvador Sánchez, is not saying anything about possible offers. "I am unable to make any statements about commercial matters," although he insists that the observatory is still active. He takes issue with what the Council of Majorca vice-president, Francesc Miralles, has said about the facilities at the observatory having been closed down. "That's not true."
Antoni Salas, the mayor of Costitx, stresses the importance of continuing the observatory's work. The observatory should remain "a leading institution in astronomical research".
The site covers more than 3,000 square metres. There is a two-storey building with three observation domes plus the "Astroplai" of seven automated domes, the Planetarium, the Astropark and the cafeteria-restaurants. Included in the sale is all the equipment and even a collection of meteors.
* As reported in the Bulletin recently, astronomical tourism has been developed to good effect in various parts of Spain, especially the Canaries. The Costitx site doesn't have the same benefit of mountain location as, for example, the observatories in Tenerife and La Palma, but it does have the advantage of some thirty years of reputation in astronomical discovery.
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Oops....its not it's!
If the original place hadn't been badly managed and ill-promoted it could have been a jewel in the crown of this island. The phone lines for bookings were rarely answered, the Planetarium was laughably years behind its time, it's priceless collection of meteorite rock almost impossible to view, and the people running the place did nothing to encourage visitors. They presumably took a decent wage for doing bog-all.