Camera Obscura, Torre Tavira, Cadiz

Camera Obscura or Tower of Tavira is to be found up the hill near the castle in Tavira. It is situated in an old disused water tower, built in 1931. Accessibility is by lift or the stairs, which encase the lift and then a small walkway to the doors of the Tower. There are the old steps up the side of the Tower but not recommended.

The cost of this experience is 3-50 euro.

The visit inside the Tower takes about 15 minutes, ...
...seconds.

The Camera Obscura in Tavira is the first of it's kind in the Algarve.

It works by mirrors, lenses, pullies, a very large white disk and as Harry Potter says, has he has one magic. On the very top of the Tower is the mirror which reflects the picture onto a lens which in turn projects onto the screen, disk. The screen is a large round white wooden surface which looks like a very big paella dish. The operator ... more

Camera Obscura or Tower of Tavira is to be found up the hill near the castle in Tavira. It is situated in an old disused water tower, built in 1931. Accessibility is by lift or the stairs, which encase the lift and then a small walkway to the doors of the Tower. There are the old steps up the side of the Tower but not recommended.

The cost of this experience is 3-50 euro.

The visit inside the Tower takes about 15 minutes, and at the most there would be 15 people inside, so not too bad for space, though when you go inside the lights are on and the inside of the old water tower is both strange and wonderful. When the lights are switched out, and warning is given you are in total darkness for a few seconds.

The Camera Obscura in Tavira is the first of it's kind in the Algarve.

It works by mirrors, lenses, pullies, a very large white disk and as Harry Potter says, has he has one magic. On the very top of the Tower is the mirror which reflects the picture onto a lens which in turn projects onto the screen, disk. The screen is a large round white wooden surface which looks like a very big paella dish. The operator uses the ropes to turn the mirror and lift the dish, to bring it into focus, the picture from the outside of the Tower. You get a 360 degree voyage 100 meters up above Tavira. We went when it was a little cloudy but when visiting in full sunshine you are able to get a view from 10 miles away, though we had a very good panoramic view.

Our guide was very funny, and placed a folded piece of paper on the dish and as we looked at the traffic along the roads, he was able to slow it down by the traffics reflection going up and down the folded paper. There was also a flock of birds which would have flown out of site but he again placed a sheet of paper to the side of the dish and caught them, very entertaining.

What is a Camera Obscura, well it was developed back by optic law by the Chinese in 500 BC, but some say that the Greeks back in 384 -322 BC where the founding father of the first clear descriptive Camera Obscura. Then in the following centuries the principles of the Camera Obscura became common place in Europe with scholars, and accounts of this system being used to view the eclipse without any danger to the eyesight. This method was also used to help draw paintings and could have been used by Leonardo da Vinci.

It is 15 minutes of your life that will enhance your view and knowledge of the area around and in Tavira, a talking point, as well as a magical moment. 

...less