Come along to Doors Open Day at Collective, on Saturday 28 September from 11am.
This year, you'll be able to join a 15-minute guided tour of the Cooke Telescope by the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh. Book your free ticket here.
We will also be opening Observatory House for self-guided tours, with a member of staff on hand to answer any questions. Observatory House is our oldest building, which was refurbished in 2021 to feature artist commissions responding to the site.
Please note that due to the historic nature of the architecture, there is no step-free access to the Cooke Telescope or Observatory House.
The City Observatory and its McEwan Dome were designed by William Henry Playfair in 1818. Having been designated a Royal Observatory for most of its life, the site lost this moniker to the observatory on Blackford Hill in 1896. Re-designated as the City Observatory, it was run by the amateur Astronomical Society of Edinburgh from the late 1930s until its closure in 2009. In 2013, Collective moved to a temporary gallery space on Calton Hill and began fundraising to restore and develop the observatory and site in partnership with City of Edinburgh Council as a new centre for contemporary art. The new site opened to the public in November 2018.
Doors Open Days is Scotland’s largest free festival that celebrates heritage and the built environment. It offers free access to over a thousand venues across the country each September.