There is provided a culture observation system by which even a culture other than an observation target culture can be cultured and observation can be properly performed by a microscope during culturing of the culture. A culture observation system S includes a culturing cabinet 2 for forming an environment suitable for culturing cells in a culturing room 13 and an image pick-up device 3 for photographing a microscopic image of the cells. The image pick-up device 3 includes a light source 47 which is provided in the culturing room 13 and a table 37 which is provided in the culturing room 13 to hold the culture as an image pick-up target, and a shelf 7 for accommodating the cells is provided in the culturing room 13 other than the light source 47 and the table 37.