By Elizabeth Hunter

Amazing photos show the world’s oldest functioning camera obscura, dating back to the 1830s.

Located in the Dumfries Museum ‘s observatory in Scotland, the camera obscura has been functioning since 1836, after townspeople banded together to purchase an abandoned windmill high on Corbelly Hill.

The camera obscura, which is Latin for “dark chamber,” shows a 360° panorama of the surrounding landscape, projected onto a focusing table for viewers.

In 1835, after a proposal began to demolish the mill, a local man purchased the property for $350.

Around 100 residents then bought $5 shares of the windmill, and began consulting architects to find someone to turn the mill into a functional observatory – and the suggestion was quickly made to add the camera obscura to the

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