The history of National Museums Scotland

Discover our story from the 18th century beginnings to the present day.

Two strands of history come together in the story of the development of the National Museums Scotland: the desire to have a museum reflecting Scottish history and the wish to have a museum demonstrating international cultures, natural and physical sciences, and decorative art for Scotland.

Beginnings: The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland

The Society of Antiquaries of Scotland was founded in 1780, very much in the spirit of the Enlightenment, to collect the archaeology of Scotland. Its collections passed into public ownership in 1858 as the original collections of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland.

These collections, which had had various homes previously, were housed from 1891 until 1995 in specially built galleries in Finlay Buildings, Queen Street, Edinburgh (also occupied by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery). The annual proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries provide an invaluable record of research carried out on the archaeology collection, from their first publication in 1851 to the present day.

Displays in the National Museum of Antiquities.

A new home

In 1985 the National Museum of Antiquities was amalgamated with the Royal Scottish Museum. The latter was founded in 1854 as the Industrial Museum of Scotland and reflected the impetus of Victorian ideals of education. It started international collecting and research as well as forming close links to the collections and teaching of Edinburgh University, which continue today. Renamed the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, it opened in its first bespoke buildings, designed by Francis Fowke, in Chambers Street in 1866.

The 1985 amalgamation created the National Museums of Scotland (rebranded as National Museums Scotland in 2006), the largest multi-disciplinary museum in Scotland, with four million items in its collections and the largest body of curatorial and conservation expertise in the country.

The National Museum of Scotland

The building of the new Museum of Scotland, which opened in 1998 to tell the country’s history from earliest times to the present day, created a landmark museum in Edinburgh for the nation. The Royal Museum Project, due for completion in 2011, will rejuvenate the displays in the adjacent Victorian building for the 21st century.

From 2011 the Museum will unite the two strands of its history for the first time in a single entity, the National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street.

The well-known statues outside the Royal Museum building.

National Museums Scotland today

Today, National Museums Scotland also includes the National Museum of Flight, the National War Museum, the National Museum of Rural Life, and the National Museum of Costume.

Its collections are housed at three sites in the Edinburgh area: the National Museums Collection Centre at Granton, Leith Customs House, and Port Edgar, South Queensferry.