Hobart Convict Penitentiary, Museum and former prison in Hobart, Australia.
Hobart Convict Penitentiary is a museum and former prison in Hobart, Australia, featuring a distinctive red-brick chapel at the corner of Brisbane and Campbell Streets. Beneath the building lie 36 confinement cells that visitors can access today.
Built in the 1830s by civil engineer John Lee Archer, the penitentiary processed over 50,000 male convicts during the colonial period. The site represents a major chapter in Australia's convict past.
The chapel served as a space for worship and later became home to courts, reflecting how colonial institutions adapted their spaces over time. Today, visitors can see traces of both uses within the same building.
The site is open Wednesday through Sunday, with guided tours available between 09:30 and 16:30 that include access to cells and underground tunnels. Wear comfortable shoes as the underground areas have uneven floors.
The site screens a 40-minute film called Pandemonium projected directly onto the chapel walls, merging modern technology with the historical space. This projection transforms the building itself into a canvas for storytelling.
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