The National Museum of Scotland might not be high on your list of must-sees when you visit Edinburgh, but you really should try to find the time to squeeze a visit in.
Here are 9 reasons why you should explore the National Museum of Scotland.
The building is worth seeing even if you’re not interested in the contents.
The Museum opened as the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art in 1866. The architect was Royal Engineer Captain Francis Fowke, who also built the Royal Albert Hall and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Interesting fact: Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, laid the foundation stone in 1861 in what turned out to be the last public duty before his death.
In 2011 the museum was renovated and got a brand new extension added on to the side. Although the exterior of the building, both the old and the new bits, look good it’s the interior you really need to see.
This massive atrium took my breath away. As you explore the different rooms (and there are lots) you keep coming back to this atrium. At the time it was built this was even more amazing than it seems now. The glass roof stretches over 80 metres and is supported by cast iron pillars. The whole structure was an innovative feat of engineering. Gas lighting meant the museum could stay open after dark – something important in the short dark days of Edinburgh’s winters.
In true Victorian style every aspect of the building has been thought about and decorated. This includes the balustrades, tiled floors and even the radiators.
Learn more about the architecture and features of the museum here.
There are great views of the city from the roof garden
The museum has a roof top garden which is a kind of nice place to sit if the weather’s good, but the real reason for going up there is for the views. The castle, Calton Hill, Arthur’s Peak, the rooftops and chimney pots of Edinburgh – you can see it all from up there.
The ‘garden’ part of the rooftop garden is all around the edge so you can look at it but not actually walk in it. Each section has a type of Scottish terrain replicated and is planted with the types of vegetation you’d find in that terrain. So you can see boggy marshland, rocky mountain tops and woodlands all at once.
You’ll get a good grounding in Scottish history
The new part of the building is where you’ll find Scottish history. Starting with early life and prehistoric peoples you move upwards through time until you reach the modern day on the fifth floor.
Many of the oldest artefacts date back thousands of years and include objects made from stone, bone, antler, wood and pottery. Compared to these items the artefacts from Roman times seem positively modern.
The best thing about this part of the museum was that I got to see items from many of the places I’ve visited around Scotland over the years.
The St Ninian's hoard was found on the tiny isle of St Ninian's just off the west coast of mainland Shetland in 1958. It consists of 28 finely decorated silver and gilt objects of Pictish origin made in the 8th century. The treasure was found by a schoolboy, Douglas Coutts, who had turned up to take part in the dig. It was his first day. He turned over a slab and found a wooden box lying beneath which contained the treasure.
Outlander fans can see actual real stuff that belonged to Bonnie Prince Charlie
If you’re an Outlander fan (and why wouldn’t you be?) you’ll know quite a bit about Bonnie Prince Charlie. Although the museum doesn’t have any actual Outlander connections you can find things that did belong to the Prince including the cutlery set he travelled with as he crossed the highlands from the Hebrides to Culloden.
I must say it’s a lot posher than any of the travel cutlery sets I own!
They have actual real Lewis Chessmen
I’ve seen actual real Lewis Chessmen before. The museum in Stornoway in Lewis has a few and there are others in the British Museum in London. I’m slightly obsessed with them even though I can’t play chess (learning is on my list of 60 things to do before I’m 60). My obsession has probably got more to do with my general obsession with all things Viking than it has with the actual game of chess. My visit to the National Museum of Scotland meant I could finally see the ones I hadn’t yet seen.
The Chessmen were found buried in a field in Uig in Lewis in 1831. It’s thought they buried sometime between 1150 and 1200 by a trader who was taking them from Norway to Ireland. No one knows why they were buried and the story of how they were found has got blurred over the years.
I find the mystery surrounding them quite fascinating and not only have I seen the actual real chessmen, but I’ve visited the place where they were found (not that there’s much to see there). I was really excited to see the final few and wandered back to them several times.
Except I might not have seen them all.
Ninety three were discovered and I’m sure I haven’t seen that many in the three museums, so maybe some are on loan or just in storage. Ah well.
Oh, and I may or may not have bought a very expensive replica set whilst I was there. Now I have no reason to put off learning to play chess.
They’ve got Dolly the Sheep
Yes, really. She’s been stuffed, but she’s here.
Don’t know what I’m talking about? Aw come on, she’s only the world’s most famous sheep!
Way back in 1996 Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute succesfully cloned a mammal for the first time. That mammal was a sheep they named Dolly. Dolly lived for seven years which is shorter than the normal life expectation for sheep, but her death wasn’t considered anything to do with her having been born a clone. She now lives on in the museum.
So much natural history
The Natural History hall is awesome. Seriously. They’ve got everything from the tiniest bugs to stonking great mammals. There’s an ocean section as well as land animals and birds. Following on from this you move onto rooms full of geology and astronomy stuff.
Something about everything – from everywhere
Just like the British Museum isn’t only about Britain, the National Museum of Scotland isn’t just about Scotland. Walking from room to room you go on a virtual tour of the world. I doubt there are any countries that don’t have at least one artefact representing them and some countries have whole rooms dedicated to them.
I particularly liked the artefacts from the Democratic Republic of Congo (because I used to live there), Indonesia (because I enjoyed travelling there) and Iran (because I really, really want to go there).
As well as this there’s a sculpture section and an area dedicated to transport, science and technology.
It’s indoors
It’s Edinburgh. It’s Scotland. It rains.
It’s easy to spend the whole day in the museum and still not see everything so if it’s raining it’s a great place to go. It’s also free so you can pop in as many times as you like and dodge all the showers you need to to.
And there you have it. Don’t underestimate this museum. I went twice spending hours there each time and I still felt rushed and didn’t get to see everything. If you’re short on time maybe pick a theme or an era and just focus on that, or just go and admire the building itself. But definitely do go.
Have you been to the National Museum of Scotland? What was your favourite bit? What other museums like this have you been to? Share your thoughts and recommendations in the comments below.
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I love this museum!! You’ve just reminded me that I still haven’t gone up to the rooftop terrace! That’ll need to change soon. Honestly I’ve been in there quite a few times now and I still haven’t seen all of it! So much to look at, it’s fantastic.