A black and white photo of a group of people standing in a city square holding balloons. There is a child's pram covered in protest signs and buttons.
Past exhibitions

Cold War Scotland

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National Museum of Scotland

About Cold War Scotland

Cold War Scotland explored the stories of Scots at the centre of this global conflict.

The Cold War was a 40-year nuclear stand-off between the USA and the Soviet Union after the Second World War. Scotland’s unique landscape provided a useful base for Allied military preparations and research.

The impact of the war still lingers in Scottish politics, culture and memory. Scots played an active role in the global conflict as soldiers within intelligence services and as part of voluntary civil defences. The exhibition drew on Scotland’s rich history of Cold War-era protest and activism.

Cold War Scotland was an output of Materialising the Cold War, a collaborative research project between National Museums Scotland and the University of Stirling. The project explored how the Cold War heritage is represented and how museums can adapt to tell this story in future. Materialising the Cold War was funded by a major grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Exhibition highlights

Exhibition stories

  1. A black and white map with a red border noting the sites of nuclear power and nuclear weapons in Scotland
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    Nuclear Scotland during the Cold War

    Nuclear power and nuclear weapons dominated the Scottish landscape, and people’s minds, during the Cold War. In 1959, Chapelcross, in Annan in southwest Scotland, became one of the first civil-military nuclear power stations in the world.…
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  2. Black and white photo of a large group of young people walking and holding homemade signs with peaceful slogans.
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    The Cold War and Scottish society

    Cold War ideologies and cultures had a direct impact on Scottish society. Scotland was the site for cultural and political exchange from both sides of the Cold War across the 20th century.  Politicians from both sides represented their…
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  3. A black and white photograph of a sailor writing on a large map featuring Scotland
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    How Scotland became a Cold War Battleground

    After the Second World War, Western and Soviet tension increased over plans for Germany. Western allies looked for collective security, and in April 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty organisation (NATO) was created. Scotland had huge…
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