Grahamstown : Albany Observatory Museum

After disappointing visits to the History museum and National English Language Museum we decided to try one more museum, The Observatory Museum in Bathurst Street.  This museum is also part of the Albany Museum Complex.

The main attraction of this museum is the Victorian camera Obscura.  It is the only one of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.  The camera uses a system of mirrors and lenses to show a live calour panorama view of the town on a flat viewing surface in a darkened room.  We had to pay R10 and were taken up some narrow stairs but had no idea what to expect.
 The guide first told us a bit about how this camera works.  I am not very technical and can’t remember the detail.  Then he closed all the doors to make the room dark and the opened the lenses to show a view of the street in the round viewing surface.














It is really amazing to see.  The guide gave us a 360 tour of most sights in the town while standing in the darkened room by pulling ropes and moving the mirrors and lenses.  It was very interesting.


The building was originally a 19th century jeweller’s shop and home for Henry Carter Galpin.  He was a watchmaker and jeweller with an interest in optics and astronomy.  In the telescope room is his telescope, which was installed on the rooftop of the observatory.

On the Victorian Floor are five rooms with Victorian furniture from an upper middle class home.  These rooms are full of interesting furniture but with little information about it.  In the basement is a Victorian kitchen and dining room.
Victorian Furniture

Victorian Kitchen
 

Back of house
So third time was the charm.  Our third museum for the day was a great success.  It was about 13:00 and we still had a lot we wanted to see.

(Not a sponsored post)
Location: 10 Bathurst St, Grahamstown 6139, South Africa

Comments

  1. Emm20 September, 2012 13:03

    I find it intriguing that you saw such clear colour images! We have a camera obscura at Greenwich Observatory but I am pretty sure the images were in monochrome. Then again, we went during a miserable October three years ago when the whole world was pretty grey and drab. Glad to see you had a successful museum visit!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eyewitness Travel Guides – A Book Review

Image
  Last month I wrote a book review and I enjoyed it.   Today I want to share some more of my favourite travel books.   DK Eyewitness Travel Guides I bought my first travel guide in 2008. I was planning a trip with my friend Lelanie to London and Europe.   While planning the trip I bought the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Europe and I paid R 282.00 for it.   Except for my university textbooks, this was the most expensive book I have ever bought for myself.    We were doing a Contiki Tour and visited 7 countries.   I studied the information in guide the about the cities we would visit.    I made lists of places I want to see and then looked for more information about them.   In the end I did not take the guide with me (the 800 pages was just to heavy to carry along) but packed all my lists to use.  At Departures at Cape Town Airport in 2008 My second guide was for the same trip.   The Eyewitness Trave...
Read more

Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê

Image
   Weather vane on the VGK Church in Carnarvon    This photo made me think of a song we used to sing as kids.    It is a traditional Afrikaans song about the rooster on top of the church. The words of the song and its translation: Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Daar’s ‘n hoender wat ‘n eier nie kan lê There is a chicken that cannot lay an egg Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower Dis die haan, Dis die haan It’s the rooster, It’s the rooster Dis die haan wat op die kerktoring staan It’s the rooster standing on the church tower More about all the churches and other buildings we saw in Carnarvon in the next post.
Read more

Dutch Reformed Mother Church, George

Image
One of my favourite sights in George is the white Dutch Reformed Mother Church with the beautiful Outeniqua Mountain as background.   I have many memories of visiting this church: On a history class trip when I was about 10, for a art class when I was about 13, for my cousins wedding in 2004, for her baby’s christening a few years later and many other times.   But most of all I like seeing this church every time we drive through town.   The cornerstone for the church was laid on 14 April 1832.   Slaves were used for some of the building work like the digging of the six-foot deep by five-foot wide foundations.   Due to financial problems it took 12 years to complete the church and it was consecrated in 9 October 1842.  The church is a National Heritage Site. On 13 September 1905 disaster struck when the church tower collapsed.   The wood rotted from water damage and lead to the walls weakening.   After a lot of rain for two days t...
Read more