10 of the Best Museums and Galleries in Edinburgh

8/10/2019 10 of the Best Museums and Galleries in Edinburgh

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10 of the best museums and galleries inEdinburghEdinburgh has plenty to see, from Concorde and Dolly the Sheep to huge collections in the

Scottish National Galleries complex. Kirsty Scottpicks her favourites

As featured in our Edinburgh city guide

Draft of Sir Walter Scott's will at the Museum on the Mound. Photograph: Jeff J

Mitchell/Getty Images

Kirsty Scott

Wednesday 12 October 2011 10.30 BST

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The Museum on the Mound

There has long been some form of museum in the bowels of the Bank of Scotland

building on the Mound, now the Scottish HQ of Lloyds, but until 2006 entry wasby appointment only and the displays were limited to one room. The Museum on
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the Mound opened five years ago, pre-financial crisis, and there is bleak humour

to be found in the displays and their accompanying text: "Not just a respectable

career, it also offered an opportunity for more leisurely pursuits See what

'high jinks' staff got up to in their free time." There are seven rooms in total,

detailing how money evolved over 4,000 years. One case holds 1m in used 20

notes.

The Mound, 0131-243 5464,museumonthemound.com,free. Open Tues-Fri

10am-5pm Sat, Sun, bank holiday Mon 1pm-5pm

Surgeons' Hall Museums

In a glass cabinet in Surgeons' Hall Museums is a small hide-bound pocketbook

the colour of strong tea. The wallet is made from the skin of William Burke, one

half of Edinburgh's infamous body-snatchers and killers, Burke and Hare, whose

victims were sold to the city's school of anatomy to be dissected. It is artefacts

like this and glass jars filled with gangrenous fingers, cancerous lungs, dried

and varnished hearts that have made the museum, tucked behind the Royal

College of Surgeons, a favourite of crime writers. Look out for the silver mask,

complete with an elaborate false moustache, fashioned by a doctor to hide the

terrible injuries suffered in the siege of Antwerp in 1832 by a young soldier.

Royal College of Surgeons, Nicolson Street, 0131-527

1649,museum.rcsed.ac.uk,5, concessions 3. Open Mon-Fri noon-4pm, Sun

noon-4pm (2 April to 30 October only)

National Museum of Flight
http://www.museumonthemound.com/http://www.museumonthemound.com/http://www.museumonthemound.com/http://www.museum.rcsed.ac.uk/content/content.aspxhttp://www.museum.rcsed.ac.uk/content/content.aspxhttp://www.museum.rcsed.ac.uk/content/content.aspxhttp://www.museum.rcsed.ac.uk/content/content.aspxhttp://www.museumonthemound.com/


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Photograph: Jeff J

Mitchell/Getty Images

Not within the city limits, but worth the short drive to East Fortune in East

Lothian, this museum tells the story of flight from the Wright brothers to the

present day in a series of converted hangars on a former RAF base. The big draw

is Concorde, one of the 20 now-defunct aircraft, which was shipped to Scotland

in 2004 for a special exhibit on supersonic flight. The child-friendly site includes

50 aircraft, and artefacts from both commercial and military aviation, including

the fuselage of a Boeing 707.

East Fortune Airfield, East Lothian, 0300 123 6789,nms.ac.uk,adults 9.50,concessions 7.50, children 4, under-fives free. Open daily 10am-5pm (April

to October), Sat, Sun only 10am-4pm (November to March)

National Museum of Scotland

Photograph:Christopher Thomond/Guardian
http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight.aspxhttp://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight.aspxhttp://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight.aspxhttp://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight.aspx


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The grande dame of Edinburgh's museums only recently reopened after a three-

year, 47m refurbishment, with 16 new galleries and 8,000 objects, 80% of

which are being viewed for the first time. The stuffed animals are now out from

behind glass and posed with video backdrops. Dolly the sheep is here, as is a 12m

cast of a T-rex skeleton and the jawbone of a sperm whale. The new displays are

more interactive, covering science, technology, transport and world cultures, and

at the adjoining museum on the history of Scotland, you can see jewellery

commissioned by Mary Queen of Scots and listen to the chuff and whistle of a

1923 Corliss steam engine that once powered a weaving mill.

Chambers Street, 0300 123 6789,nms.ac.uk,free. Open daily 10am-5pm

The Museum of Childhood

Skim through the visitors' book and you'll find tourists returning after 20 years,

delighted to find that little has changed in this four-storey building. That is the

charm of the place, opened in the 1950s to become the first museum devoted to a

social history of childhood. Founder Joseph Patrick Murray built up an extensive

collection of toys, games, clothes, teddy bears and dolls. The carpet is well-

trodden, there are small chairs for small visitors, a puppet theatre and dressing-

up area, and the PA system on the top floor pipes children's voices and nursery

rhymes so that the noise permeates the building.

42 High Street, Royal Mile, 0131-529 4142,edinburghmuseums.org.uk,free.

Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm

Scottish National Gallery
http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum.aspxhttp://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum.aspxhttp://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum.aspxhttp://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/Museum-of-Childhoodhttp://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/Museum-of-Childhoodhttp://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/Museum-of-Childhoodhttp://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/Museum-of-Childhoodhttp://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum.aspx


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Venus Anadyomene

(around 1520), Titian. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

One of the first pieces you will see is Titian's Venus Anadyomene, bought for the

nation for more than 11m in 2003. The 500-year-old Renaissance work,

described by the then director general Sir Timothy Clifford as a "very sexy lady",

had hung in the gallery for 60 years on loan from the Duke of Sutherland. When

he died in 2000, they were offered first refusal. A little further in are Canova's

Three Graces, purchased jointly with the V&A in 1994. The ground level covers

European art from the 16th to 19th centuries, the basement, the Scottish

collection including Sir Henry Raeburn's Reverend Robert Walker Skating onDuddingston Loch.

The Mound, 0131-624 6200,nationalgalleries.org,free. Open Mon-Wed, Fri-

Sun 10am-5pm (August only 10am-6pm), Thurs 10am-7pm

Royal Scottish Academy
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/complex/2:114:2/http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/complex/2:114:2/http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/complex/2:114:2/http://www.nationalgalleries.org/visit/complex/2:114:2/


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The RSA occupies the William Henry Playfair building closest to Princes Street,

and is one of the UK's premier exhibition venues. This year's landmark show is a

retrospective of the work of Elizabeth Blackadder, the Scots artist best known for

her landscape, still life and flower paintings. Dame Elizabeth, the Queen's

painter and limner in Scotland, turns 80 this year and the show spans six

decades of her career. There are plenty of her trademark delicate studies of

blossoms and blooms, but also lesser-known and bolder works from her many

travels, particularly to Japan. The show runs until January 2012.

The Mound, 0131-225 6671,royalscottishacademy.org,admission to

Blackadder exhibition 8, concessions 6. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun

12pm-5pm

City Art Centre

Golgotha

(2011),David Mach.Photograph: Rosie Hallam/Barcroft Media

A former warehouse and part of the old Scotsman building, the CAC has a rolling

programme of exhibitions showcasing a wide range of contemporary Scottishand international artists. Past events have included the Art of Star Wars one of

several to pull in more than 100,000 visitors. The current exhibition features the

work of London-based Scot David Mach, known for his large-scale collages,

sculptures and installations, and the main entrance is dominated by Mach's

Golgotha tableau: three giant crucified figures pinned to steel girders. The public

galleries are spread over six floors, and third floor has been temporarily given

over to a studio space for Mach, where he has been working on a final piece for

the exhibition a decoupage depiction of the Last Supper. Visitors can wander

by and watch the creative process, and the exhibition runs until 16 October.

2 Market Street, 0131-529 3993,edinburghmuseums.org.uk/venues/City-Art-
http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/menu_page.asphttp://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/menu_page.asphttp://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/menu_page.asphttp://www.davidmach.com/http://www.davidmach.com/http://www.davidmach.com/http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/City-Art-Centrehttp://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/City-Art-Centrehttp://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/City-Art-Centrehttp://www.davidmach.com/http://www.royalscottishacademy.org/pages/menu_page.asp


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Centre,free, David Mach exhibition adults 5, concessions 3.50, children 5-

15 2.50. Open Mon-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 12pm-5pm

Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

Outspan,Tony

Cragg.Photograph: Ivon Bartholomew

Split between two buildings on either side of Belford Road, Modern One and

Modern Two, the gallery houses the nation's collection of modern and

contemporary art. Modern Two, previously the Dean Gallery, was built as anorphanage. An austere structure, it's home to a large collection of Dada and

Surrealist art, and a collection of the works of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. Across the

waythe grounds of Modern One are dominated by Charles Jencks' Landform, a

stepped and spiralling mound with reflecting pools. Inside, one of the more

recently acquired works is The Mysterious Garden, a watercolour by Margaret

Macdonald Mackintosh, wife of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, some of whose

studies hang nearby.

73/75 Belford Road, 0131-6246200,nationalgalleries.org/modernartgalleries,free, a charge may be made

for special exhibitions, parking 1 for four hours. Open daily 10am-5pm

Scottish National Portrait Gallery
http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/City-Art-Centrehttp://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/City-Art-Centrehttp://www.tony-cragg.com/http://www.tony-cragg.com/http://www.tony-cragg.com/http://www.tony-cragg.com/http://www.nationalgalleries.org/modernartgallerieshttp://www.nationalgalleries.org/modernartgallerieshttp://www.nationalgalleries.org/modernartgallerieshttp://www.nationalgalleries.org/modernartgallerieshttp://www.tony-cragg.com/http://www.tony-cragg.com/http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/City-Art-Centre


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Due to re-open on 1 December public sector strikes willing after an 18m

refurbishment, and those who have seen inside the distinctive red neo-gothic

building, originally modelled on the Doges Palace in Venice, say the gloomy

interiors are gone, replaced by 17 new, light, airy gallery spaces and themed

exhibits. The gallery is home to the national collection of portraits and the

national photography collection, with studies of great Scots from Robert Burns

and David Hume to Sean Connery, Alex Ferguson and Tilda Swinton.

1 Queen Street, 0131-624 6200,nationalgalleries.org/portraitgallery,free.

Open daily from 1 December, 10am-5pm

Kirsty Scottis a Guardian writer based in Scotland
http://www.nationalgalleries.org/portraitgalleryhttp://www.nationalgalleries.org/portraitgalleryhttp://www.nationalgalleries.org/portraitgalleryhttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/kirstyscotthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/kirstyscotthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/kirstyscotthttp://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/kirstyscotthttp://www.nationalgalleries.org/portraitgallery

10 of the Best Museums and Galleries in Edinburgh

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