1 Arthur's Seat
2 Dynamic Earth
3 Edinburgh Castle
4 Museum of Scotland
5 National Gallery of Scotland
6 The New Town
7 Palace of Holyroodhouse
8 Royal Botanic Garden
9 The Royal Mile
10 Scott Monument
An eye-catching modern building houses over 10,000 objects telling the story of Scotland's history, people, culture and achievements.
The Museum of Scotland opened in 1998 as an extension of the old Royal Museum, itself a fine mixed collection of natural history and the decorative arts, housed in a Victorian building embellished with splendid cast-iron work. A new national museum for Scotland had been mooted since the early 1950s, and the finished complex provides the perfect foil for the superb collections within.
The museum is divided into seven main sections, each concentrating on a theme in the development of Scotland, and illustrating this through exhibits, display boards, and interactive information. From the geological formation of the landscape move on to wildlife and historical and modern land use, then to a section on early people, where a striking group of sculptures by Eduardo Paolozzi is decked with ancient jewellery and artefacts. The next level looks at the Kingdom of the Scots, the years between 900 and 1701, when Scotland was an independent nation with a full cultural, social and religious life. Here you'll find the famous Lewis chess-pieces, carved from whalebone in the 12th century, the 8th-century Monymusk Reliquary, and the Bute Mazer, probaby made for Robert the Bruce. Later treasures include fine Scottish silver, glass and textiles. Moving on through displays showing the country's development after the Union until the Industrial Revolution, you come to the industries that made 19th-century Scotland `the workshop of the world'. Leave time for the top floor: devoted to the 20th century, it's crammed with objects chosen by the Scottish public as being representative of the present age - everything from an automatic washing machine to a disposable syringe.Address: Chambers Street
Phone: 0131 225 7534/247 4219
Open: Wed-Sat and Mon, 10-5; Tue 10-8; Sun 12-5. Closed 25 Dec
Restaurant: Tower Restaurant; Phone: 0131 225 3003 Hours: Mon-Sat 10-11pm, Sun 12-11pm (Moderately priced-Expensive)
Bus: 7, 14, 28, 45
Accessible: Excellent
Admission: Moderate (free on Tue 4:30-8)
Other: Cowgate; Greyfriars Kirk
Practical: Regular lunchtime lectures; guided general and themed tours, free portable sound guides; cinema (The Lumière, Phone: 0131 247 4219 Hours: Fri, Sat, Sun) showing wide range of British and foreign old and new films
| COUNTRY |
| Britain |
| REGION |
| CITIES |
| London |
| Edinburgh
|
| Viewing |
| Top Ten |
| What To See |
| Where To ... |
| Practical Matters |
| Oxford |
| York |
| MAPS |
| World |
| Europe |
| TRAVEL BOOK |
 |