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Camera Obscura – Short’s Observatory

Known originally as Short’s Observatory – you can still just about make out the lettering on the tower, it is the oldest purpose built visitor attraction in Scotland. It was created in 1853 when Maria Theresa Short added two new storeys onto a 16th century tenement to house her camera obscura and related exhibitions. Purchased by Patrick Geddes, the pioneering town planner, in 1892, it was transformed into a sociological museum and re-named the Outlook Tower. Recently it has received a new lease of life as the Camera Obscura and World of Illusions.