Digital platform offers a 360° reconstruction of the Valparaíso building, as well as downloadable educational guides aligned with the school curriculum, with the aim of bringing history closer to students, teachers, and the general public. One of the collaborating institutions is the Las Campanas Observatory.
A new project rescues the history of Chile's first professional astronomical observatory, located in Valparaíso. The story dates back to Edinburgh, Scotland, where Juan Mouat, founder of the Valparaíso observatory, was born in 1809. There he trained as a watchmaker in a context marked by scientific and technological innovation, a key trade at a time when measuring time was as essential as processing data is today.
He was an apprentice to Robert Bryson, a renowned chronometer maker and creator of the City Observatory's sidereal clock, an instrument that told the time using the stars as a reference. With this experience, Mouat arrived in Chile and in 1843 installed the country's first professional observatory on the Cordillera hill in Valparaíso.
Today, the port city is once again at the forefront of astronomy with www.elprimerobservatorio.cl, a platform that rescues the history of this building, which was key in the 19th century for maritime navigation and the precise measurement of time. With this launch, Chile takes a step forward in scientific advancement, highlighting the importance of the first professional astronomical observatory in Valparaíso.
Digital reconstruction of the interior of Chile's first professional astronomical observatory. Credit: Courtesy
The research behind the project—carried out in Valparaíso, Santiago, and Edinburgh—provided in-depth knowledge of how the observatory worked and what contributions it made to the city.
This stage corresponds to the second phase of a project initiated in 2019 by the Altura Heritage Foundation, whose purpose has been to recover and disseminate the memory of the building. While the first phase focused on establishing the historical and heritage foundations of the observatory, this new stage sought to delve deeper into its architecture and scientific operations, providing new information to understand its relevance.
"We confirmed that the observatory had telescopes and a set of meteorological instruments, as well as a time ball, a time signaling system that was key to global navigation at the time, this being one of the earliest examples of this instrument in the world. This finding shows the importance of the observatory in technological innovation and in the time services it provided to the port city and the ships that passed through it. All of this is reflected today on the website, which not only reconstructs the observatory's spaces, but also provides educational materials to bring this history closer to researchers, students, and the general public," says Daniela Bustamante, president of the Altura Patrimonio Foundation and principal investigator of the FONDART-funded project.
The research (Project Funded by the National Fund for Cultural Development and the Arts, National Funding Scope, Call for Proposals 2024) also made it possible to verify, based on historical archives, the continuity of the observatory's function and the permanence of its original instruments over decades. This historical condition confirms its pioneering nature and positions it as one of the oldest examples of urban architecture linked to science in Valparaíso.
The website offers an immersive and educational experience. Its first section tells the story of the observatory, from the origins of its founder in Scotland, linking the Scottish Enlightenment with the technological advances of those years.
A second section of the site is dedicated to the astronomical and meteorological instruments that the observatory had, complemented by images and 3D models. It also includes a 360° reconstruction of the interior, which allows visitors to experience what observation would have been like in the 19th century. Finally, the platform presents five educational guides aligned with the school curriculum, which translate the results of the research into practical tools for teachers and students.
One of the collaborating institutions is the Las Campanas Observatory through LabMóvil, which seeks to promote scientific culture among children and young people through simple and replicable experiments. Together with them, a special teaching guide was developed for the general public, which will allow the knowledge of the First Observatory to be implemented in the context of their educational activities.
“One of our tasks is to support science education in the country and, in particular, in the local community. In this regard, the teaching guides are a great contribution to the activities of our traveling mobile laboratory, as they address school curriculum content and help us define the students' level of astronomical knowledge. It is also important to highlight Chile's astronomical tradition, because teaching and outreach are not only nourished by current advances, but also by historical facilities such as the Mouat Observatory, which allow us to understand how the country became a world leader in this discipline," says Carol Rojas, Communications and Outreach Manager at the Las Campanas Observatory of the Carnegie Institution for Science.
A path to recognition of the building
The research that gave rise to the website also generated input for the future restoration and recognition of the building, such as “MHN Casa Observatorio Mouat, archaeological witness of Castillo San José,” for its contribution to national history and astronomical heritage. The building is currently undergoing preventive conservation.
Located at Merlet 195, Juan Mouat's observatory was built on part of the land where the old Castillo San José stood, built in 1692 to protect Valparaíso from possible pirate attacks. After being destroyed by an earthquake in 1822, its land was subdivided and auctioned off. In 1840, the Scottish watchmaker acquired one of them to build the country's first professional astronomical observatory, which today is an important landmark in Chile's scientific history and astronomical heritage.
In 1963, it was declared a National Historic Monument thanks to the efforts of Chilean poets Sara Vial and Pablo Neruda, and today there is a push to rename the building in recognition of Juan Mouat's contributions to Chile's astronomical heritage and history.
"In 2020, as the Altura Heritage Foundation, we submitted a request to the National Monuments Council to rectify the declaration of the building as a Historic Monument, which dates back to 1967 and named it Castillo San José. However, this is incorrect and limits the recognition of its true historical heritage value: being Chile's first professional astronomical observatory. The request was unanimously approved by the Council in May 2023, according to which it should be renamed ‘Casa Observatorio Mouat, archaeological witness of Castillo San José’. Since then, we have been insisting that this process move forward within the heritage institutions," says Bustamante.