What inspires you in our museums? Get creative and join our month-long online art challenge at National Museums Scotland!

Acclaimed historian and broadcaster Michael Wood joined Dr Adrián Maldonado, Glenmorangie Research Fellow, to discuss Adrián’s new book, 'Crucible of Nations: Scotland from Viking Age to Medieval Kingdom'. The book reassesses the museum’s Viking-age collections, uncovering an exciting new vision of Scotland’s diverse and creative past.

During and directly after the Second World War, the Reid family at Wester Kittochside, East Kilbride employed both Italian and German prisoners of war.

From newborn animals on the farm to Easter activities, music and storytelling, each day will be different.

Learn how to say colours in Mandarin, explore the museum collections, in person or virtually, and create your own Chinese object card.

Delve into our animated adventures and explore the world around us from unique perspectives.

Visitors met the most feared and revered of all dinosaurs in this cutting-edge exhibition, that brought the latest discoveries in palaeontology to life and challenging preconceptions about these ferocious predators.

Portable steam engines were in common use in industrialised countries from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century as power sources for machinery on farms and in rural factories.

Mode brings the museum's wardrobe to life with a selection of 30 objects from the world of fashion.

We are delighted to invite National Museums Scotland Members and Patrons to an exclusive Preview Day of Anatomy: A Matter of Death and Life before the exhibition opens to the public.

Join curator Anna Groundwater for a guided virtual tour of life in Renaissance Scotland at the National Museum of Scotland.

Why should a 19th century Scottish woman feature on a contemporary African cloth? Discover the story of Mary Slessor: missionary, magistrate and champion of women's rights.

Come and play Bird Bingo at the National Museum of Rural Life! Can you find all the birds hiding around the museum?

The Luxury of Time displayed a collection of rare and significant historical timepieces telling the story of a golden age of innovation in British watch and clockmaking.

Meet the 12 metre-long, spectacular life-sized skeleton cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex, one of the star attractions at the National Museum of Scotland.

A weaving loom collected by David Livingstone among the Mang’anja people in Mozambique or Malawi reveals fascinating links between past and present.

Bring the Curriculum for Excellence to life with the help of the national collections.

East Fortune Airfield is the UK's best-preserved Second World War airfield. Discover its history from its beginnings in the First World War to its transformation to a national museum.

Ancient Egyptian temples served as homes for the gods, where they were looked after by priests. Most people were not allowed inside temples and only a few priests could enter the presence of the god’s statue.

As the first cloned mammal ever to be created from an adult cell, Dolly the sheep's birth was of huge excitement both to the scientific world and to the public.

Find out about our very own beehives.

There are over 20,000 wood engraving blocks in the W. & R. Chambers Collection at National Museums Scotland. Over 7,000 of these blocks were created to print the illustrations in Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, which was first published in 1859.

Seasonal news and updates from our historic working farm at the National Museum of Rural Life.

In 1907 the builder William Willett wrote a pamphlet called The Waste of Daylight, campaigning for Daylight Saving in the UK. 9 years later, in 1916, this came into effect in UK law and effectively changed how we experience the passing seasons. Read on to find out more about Daylight Saving is and why Willett wanted it implemented...

Plan the perfect trip to the National Museum of Flight

Discover the story of the people who designed, built and operated Scotland's lighthouses through the objects which brought their role to life.

Visitors to the Scotland Transformed gallery at National Museum of Scotland cannot miss the mighty Newcomen engine.

Meet a very special Neolithic dog.

Textile designer and artist Bernat Klein put Scottish fashion on the map during the 1960s. Discover his colourful mohairs and tweeds, inspired by the landscape around his Scottish Borders studio.

Two detailed funerary papyri tell the stories of the high official Montsuef and his wife Tanuat, whose intact Roman-era family burial was excavated by Alexander Henry Rhind.

Casualty of War: A Portrait of Maharaja Duleep Singh is by renowned British Sikh artists, The Singh Twins.

New publication celebrates the life of Scottish fossil collector Stan Wood and his remarkable discoveries.

Investigate different aspects of life on Earth, through fascinating fossils, tools for turning the soil and pieces of art reflecting the devastating effects of pollution on our planet.

Uncover the history of this iconic Celtic trumpet, and find out how it has been reconstructed to bring the music of the past to life.

Heddle was a larger than life character, a renowned academic and one of Scotland's most famous mineralogists.

If the first four-legged animals had never emerged from water onto land, our world today would not exist. Yet how did this great step happen? The mystery is finally being solved – and fossils discovered in Scotland lie at the heart of the story.

Robert I, also known as Robert Bruce, was king of Scots from 1306 to 1329. Follow his journey from coronation to grave through objects associated with this famous warrior.

Curator Fiona Ware and Dr Dan Harries from Heriot-Watt’s Institute of Life & Earth Sciences introduce some of Scotland’s finest marine habitats and discuss the importance of the museum’s specimen collections to monitoring changes in our seas.

Discover how this stunning, detailed wall hanging was brought back to life by our Textile Conservation team.

Take a look inside one of the most treasured objects in the National Museum of Scotland.

Make the most of your visit with our museum highlights. Your rural adventure starts here!

Explore the museum collections and historic airfield with our family trails.