On 6 April 2011, the ESO Paranal Observatory was honoured with a visit from the President of the Czech Republic, Václav Klaus, who also took the opportunity to admire Cerro Armazones, the future site of the planned E-ELT. The distinguished visitor was shown the technical installations at the observatory, and was present when the dome of one of the four 8.2-metre Unit Telescopes of ESO's Very Large Telescope opened for a night's observing at Cerro Paranal, the world's most advanced visible-light observatory.

Foto: Archive ESO

  

President Klaus was accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Karel Schwarzenberg, the Czech Ambassador in Chile, Zdenek Kubanek, dignitaries of the government, and a Czech industrial delegation. The group was hosted at Paranal by the ESO Director General, Tim de Zeeuw, the ESO Representative in Chile, Massimo Tarenghi, the Director of Operations, Andreas Kaufer, and Jan Palous, Czech representative at the ESO Council.