Dumfries Museum

Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura
Exterior view of the Camera Obscura
General information
Architectural style	Victorian and modern
Town or city	Dumfries
Country	Scotland
Coordinates	55°03′55″N 3°36′53″W / 55.0652°N 3.6146°W / 55.0652; -3.6146
Renovated	2011

Dumfries Museum and Camera Obscura, located in Dumfries in Dumfries & Galloway, is the largest museum in the region. The museum has extensive collections relating to local and history from the pre-historic era. The museum also has the world's oldest working Camera Obscura. Admission is free, however a small fee applies for the Camera Obscura.

The museum's collections cover all material relating to the natural history and human pre-history of the region, from geology to dress, folk material, archaeology and early photographs.^[1]

Notable artefacts include:

• A cast of the skull of Robert the Bruce as well as femur and foot bones.^[2]
• A Bronze Age cist burial including the remains of a 35-year-old man from the beaker people.^[3]
• A large collection of Roman and Celtic stone crosses and funerary monuments.^[4][5]
• A replica of the first bicycle, as designed by Kirkpatrick Macmillan.^[6]
• The photographic archive of Dr Werner Kissling.^[7]
• Personal items belonging to Thomas Carlyle^[8]
• Fossil reptile tracks from the local Permian sandstone including Corncockle Quarry.^[9]

Originally built as a four-storey windmill on Corbelly hill, the highest point in Maxwelltown, in 1798, the site was purchased by Dumfries and Maxwellton Astronomical Society in 1834.^[10] Over a two-year period the tower was converted into an Observatory,^[11] and with advice from polar explorer Sir John Ross, a telescope was purchased from a Mr Morton of Kilmarnock. With its completion in 1836, unfortunately the observatory missed the arrival of Halley's comet; however, it was used in this role until 1872.

The main hall of the museum was built in 1862, and housed the collections of the newly founded Dumfries and Galloway Natural History & Antiquarian Society. In 1981 a major addition of a new gallery, shop, search room and offices for curatorial staff was added. In 2011 the exterior of the windmill tower was refurbished.^[12]

The camera obscura is currently the oldest working example in the world, and has been in continuous operation since 1836.^[13] The instrument, based in the top level of the windmill tower, offers a complete 360° panorama of the surrounding landscape. The image is projected onto a focusing table below, and operated using a simple rope mechanism.^[14] In order to protect the instrument it is only operated during the summer months and on days when weather conditions are clear.^[15] The museums photographic expert for thirty years was Werner Kissling who donated his photos to the museum when he died.^[16]

• Official website
• Dumfries Museum on Future Museum