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T.rex

Top five new attractions

With thousands of objects on display in the new galleries at the National Museum of Scotland, where do you start? Here are five objects you won't want to miss.

1. Tyrannosaurus rex

Animal World

At 12 metres long and weighing in at seven tonnes, Tyrannosaurus rex was an alarming sight! Our life-size cast is a towering spectacle!

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  • Tyrannosaurus rex

Acrylic stern-post of the waka2. Te Tuhono

Facing the Sea

Our conservation team worked closely with Maori artist George Nuku to restore this 19th century Maori waka or canoe, named Te Tuhono. A new acrylic stern-post is bound with the historic wood carvings to form the centrepiece of the Facing the Sea gallery.

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  • Waka taua

Amethyst geode3. Amethyst geode

Restless Earth

This geode, excavated from lavas in Brazil, formed 130 million years ago after one of the most dramatic volcanic periods in geloogical history. Usually geodes are fist-sized or football-sized, but this one is almost two metres high!

Gyroplane4. Gyroplane

Window on the World

David Kay and John Grieve, from Scone, designed one of the world's first gyroplanes in 1934. The Kay Type 33/1 was the first rotocraft to use variable incidence rotors, a feature that would be come standard on all helicopters.

Mummy mask5. Mummy mask

Ancient Egypt

This spectacular mummy mask from the Ptolemaic Period is made of gilded and painted linen and plaster. It was part of the lid of a coffin placed over the head of a mummy and dates from the 3rd or 2nd century BC.

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  • Coffins and mummy-masks

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National Museums Scotland, Scottish Charity, No. SC 011130