The Camera Obscura's getting bigger..and that's no illusion

YOU CAN shrink to the size of a Borrower, walk into a swirling vortex or morph into a monkey.

Or you can sever your own head or marvel at a rare vase that transforms into the face of Prince Phillip and the Queen.

One of Edinburgh's best known attractions, the Camera Obscura, is set to showcase a new collection of crazy games in a major revamp increasing the museum's size by up to 70 per cent.

Up to 30 new features will be added this June in an old school next door which is being transformed into a world of tricks and illusion at a cost of 1.2 million.

A number of the developments, such as a Beuchet chair – which creates an optical illusion that the person sitting on it is Borrower-sized – have never before been seen in the UK.

The rare Rubin vase, created for Her Majesty's Silver Jubilee, is a 3D asymmetrical shape, so the shadow thrown from it creates a representation of the Queen on one side and Prince Phillip on the other. As it turns the faces morph into one another and appear to start talking.

Manager and director Andrew Johnston said: "The expansion was definitely due because we have had more than twice the number of people through the doors in recent years.

"In 2000 we had 62,000 visitors but in 2009 this reached 140,000.

"The new features are very interactive, trick the mind and capture the imagination.

"We've invested quite a lot in the new project, but we've also found that a lot of people have been kind enough to donate things and offer them at a reduced price because they want to see a museum like this in Scotland."

Other attractions include a mirror maze, a 6x2m swirling vortex tunnel, the Ames Room – which creates the illusion that an individual is shrinking, as in Alice in Wonderland – and a morph camera, which allows people to transform themselves into everything from an animal to a baby.

Despite its much larger size, the attraction will only increase its ticket price by 30p, taking an adult ticket to 9.25 and a children's ticket to 6.40.

The main attraction, the Camera Obscura, is a cross between a giant pinhole camera and a periscope.

Using mirrors, a 360-degree snapshot of the Capital, including the Castle, can be clearly seen from the device. In 2002 it was even used by police in a bid to track terrorists around the Capital.

The refurbished building next door to the tourist favourite used to be the Ragged School for poor children, but it has been deserted for more than 100 years.

The Camera Obscura is hoping to secure planning permission for the last touches to the outside walls of the building within the next couple of weeks.

A FOCUS ON VISITORS FOR 150 YEARS

THE Camera Obscura is one of the city's oldest tourist attractions, with the building having been used for education and entertainment for more than 150 years.

The 17th-century building, originally the townhouse of the Ramsays of Dalhousie, was bought by Maria Short in 1853, and she added extra storeys before opening the first attraction there, Short's Observatory, to the paying public.

In 1892 it was bought by Sir Patrick Geddes who opened it as an Outlook Tower, which later became the Camera Obscura.

It was taken over by Visitor Centres Ltd more than 30 years ago and now attracts around 100,000 visitors a year, making it one of Edinburgh's most visited paid attractions.