National Museums Scotland
- National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland
- Royal Scottish Museum
Edinburgh
EH1 1JF
- Bruce Minto OBE, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
- Dr Chris Breward, Director of National Museums Scotland
National Museums Scotland (NMS; Scottish Gaelic: Taighean-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland.
NMS is one of the country's National Collections, and holds internationally important collections of natural sciences, decorative arts, world cultures, science and technology, and Scottish history and archaeology.
List of national museums
- The National Museum of Scotland, comprising two linked museums on Chambers Street, in the Old Town of Edinburgh:
- The Museum of Scotland - concerned with the history and people of Scotland
- The Royal Museum - a general museum encompassing global geology, archaeology, natural history, science, technology and art
- The National Museum of Flight, at East Fortune, East Lothian
- The National Museum of Rural Life, at Wester Kittochside farm, in South Lanarkshire (previously the Museum of Scottish Country Life, previously the Scottish Agricultural Museum)
- The National War Museum, at Edinburgh Castle
Other collections
The main storage building at the National Museums Collection Centre, at Granton in Edinburgh, opened in 1996. It is open to the public for guided tours. A new storage building has been constructed, which houses the textile and costume collections, including the Jean Muir Collection of 20th century costume and accessories.
The National Museum of Costume was located at Shambellie House, in New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. In January 2013, National Museums Scotland announced that the National Museum of Costume was to close and the site would not reopen for 2013.[1]
Trustees
National Museums Scotland is Scotland's national museum service, governed by a board of trustees. It is a non-departmental public body, funded by the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate of the Scottish Government.
Notable items in the national collections
The official website lists the following exhibits as being the highlights of its collections:[2]
- Assyrian relief of King Ashurnasirpal II and a court official, from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nimrud, excavated by Austen Henry Layard in the 1840s; the medical pioneer James Young Simpson gave the panel to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, who passed it into the national collection
- Boulton & Watt engine
- Bute mazer (also referred to as the Bannatyne mazer)
- Calcite crystal, found in 1927 at the New Glencrieff mine at Wanlockhead on the Leadhills ore field, "an excellent example of a complex doubly terminated scalenohedral crystal" (see Dogtooth spar)
- Concorde G-BOAA (Alpha Alpha)
- Dolly the sheep
- Galloway Hoard
- Hunterston Brooch
- Lewis chessmen
- One of the three skins left of the Mauritius blue pigeon
- Monymusk reliquary
- Queen Mary harp
- Qurneh burial collection, discovered by Flinders Petrie on 30 December 1908, the only complete ancient royal Egyptian burial collection held outside Egypt
- Seringapatam sword, presented to David Baird by his field officers after the Battle of Seringapatam, in May 1799
- Silver travelling canteen of Prince Charles Edward Stuart
- Talnotrie Hoard
- Tea Service of the Emperor Napoleon
See also
References
External links
- Official website
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- Aberdeen Art Gallery
- Broughton Gallery
- Burrell Collection
- City Art Centre
- Dick Institute
- Dundee Contemporary Arts
- Fruitmarket Gallery
- Gallery of Modern Art
- Georgian House
- Gracefield Arts Centre
- Groam House Museum
- Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery
- Inverness Museum and Art Gallery
- Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum
- Kirkcaldy Galleries
- Meffan Institute
- McLean Museum
- McLellan Galleries
- McManus Galleries
- Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum
- Montrose Museum
- Perth Art Gallery
- Pier Arts Centre
- Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
- Queen's Gallery
- Talbot Rice Gallery
- Tramway
- V&A Dundee
- Aberdeenshire Farming Museum
- Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum
- Angus Folk Museum
- Biggar Museum Trust
- Campbeltown Heritage Centre
- Clydebank Museum
- Dumfries Museum
- Fife Folk Museum
- Gairloch Museum
- Gladstone's Land
- Glenesk Folk Museum
- Highland Folk Museum
- Highland Museum of Childhood
- Inveraray Jail
- John Knox House
- King's Museum
- Meffan Institute
- Montrose Museum
- Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume
- Museum of Edinburgh
- Museum of the University of St Andrews
- New Lanark
- North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre
- Old Haa Museum
- The Orkney Museum
- People's Palace
- People's Story Museum
- Pier House Museum
- Provost Skene's House
- Scalloway Museum
- Scotland Street School Museum
- Shetland Museum
- Signal Tower Museum
- Skye Museum of Island Life
- St Andrews Museum
- Stewartry Museum
- Stonehaven Tolbooth
- Stromness Museum
- Tain & District Museum
- Tangwick Haa Museum
- The Tolbooth, Aberdeen
55°56′49″N 3°11′20″W / 55.947°N 3.189°W / 55.947; -3.189