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Collective - City Observatory

28 September 2024 (10:00 - 17:00)

Edinburgh

In Person

We will be opening Observatory House, the oldest building on the site, which was refurbished in 2021 to feature artist commissions responding to the site. There will be tours of the Cooke telescope, which is housed in the City Observatory building. These will be operated by the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh.

Observatory House will be open for self-guided tours, with a member of staff on hand to answer any questions.

Telescope Tours should be booked in advance. There will be a limited number of tour slots available on the day, but please do book to avoid disappointment!

You can book tickets here: https://buytickets.at/collective1/1367841

UPDATE - dditional tour of the full site to run at 12pm and 3pm. The booking link for that is here

Digital Resources

Collective Observations

Sugar, ships and science: The City Observatory and Caribbean commerce.

Lisa Williams, author, poet, and founder of the Edinburgh Caribbean Association, explores the role that the City Observatory played in shipping to and from Leith. Now home to Collective, the City Observatory site has a long history as a crucial provider of accurate time to the city of Edinburgh and the Port of Leith. Time was kept by tracking celestial objects passing over the transit telescope which still sits in the Observatory today.

In her presentation, Lisa discusses the lives of the founding members of the Observatory and the development of mathematics and science, both of which were intertwined with the Transatlantic slave trade and buoyed up by colonial commerce.

Listen to Lisa's presentation!

Gallery

Key Information

Telescope Tours should be booked in advance. There will be a limited number of tour slots available on the day, but please do book to avoid disappointment!

You can book tickets here: https://buytickets.at/collective1/1367841

Additional tour of the full site to run at 12pm and 3pm. The booking link for that is here

Where to find us

Address

38 Calton Hill
Edinburgh
EH7 5AA

Website

https://www.collective-edinburgh.art/

Programmes this building took part in:

2022

2023

2024