Xujiahui Observatory

Xujiahui Observatory is a historic former observatory in the Xujiahui district of Shanghai, China, now preserved as a museum devoted to the city's scientific past.

About Xujiahui Observatory

Founded in February 1872 by French Catholic Jesuits, Xujiahui Observatory was China's first observatory and originally covered four departments: astronomy, meteorology, seismology and magnetic science. It helped make Shanghai the site of the world's largest meteorological station at the time, one of some seventy Jesuit weather stations across China, and the first meteorological station in the Far East.

History

The observatory's grey, three-storey Baroque building was constructed in 1901 and still stands today. Its scientific work once spanned continuous weather and seismic monitoring for the wider region, reflecting the scale of the Jesuit mission's scientific ambitions in China.

Location & getting there

The site sits in the Xujiahui neighbourhood of Shanghai, a district that has grown into one of the city's major commercial hubs around this historic core.

Visiting Xujiahui Observatory

Xujiahui Observatory now operates as the Shanghai Meteorological Museum, and general public access is limited. Group visits typically require advance reservation through the Xujiahui Tourist Information Centre, so it is worth arranging ahead of a trip.

See your named star from here

Long before satellites, sites like Xujiahui Observatory tracked the sky and the weather using precise coordinates, the same idea behind the right ascension and declination of a star named through Star Register. Explore the star catalogue to see how those coordinates work.