Uraniborg was an astronomical observatory and alchemy laboratory established and operated by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe. It was the first custom-built observatory in modern Europe, and the last to be built without a telescope as its primary instrument.
Uraniborg
Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg from Blaeu's Atlas Maior (1663)
Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg main building from Blaeu's Atlas Maior (1663)
Engraving of the mural quadrant from Brahe's book Astronomiae instauratae mechanica (1598)
An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysics, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. Historically, observatories were as simple as containing an astronomical sextant or Stonehenge.
The Sphinx Observatory on a mountain top in the Swiss Alps at 3,571 m (11,716 ft)
Atacama Large Millimeter Array, Chile, at 5,058 m (16,594 ft)
Paranal Observatory, Chile, home of the VLT at 2,635 m (8,645 ft)
The Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, home of several of the world's largest optical telescopes at 4,205 m (13,796 ft)