The National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh is gorgeous

Now leap forward a century. National Museums Scotland was formed by an Act of Parliament in 1985, combining the collections and the resources of the old National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland and the above-mentioned Royal Scottish Museum. The National Museum in Edinburgh collections were wide ranging, covering Scottish culture and history. Next door The Royal Museum focuses more on science and technology, and natural history. Happily admission is free to the two connected buildings.

In July 2011, the doors were opened to sixteen new galleries in the National Museum of Scotland. Architect Gareth Hoskins had completely remodelled the listed Victorian building with new public spaces and entrances, but it was a risky and controversial renovation. The stone-vaulted cellars were reconfigured to create a dramatic public entrance hall. New stairs and lifts took visitors up into the delicate cast iron structure of the original central atrium; this spectacular atrium of the Grand Gallery was now a balconied birdcage of iron and glass painted white and gold. Visitors went through all levels of redisplayed galleries, to the new special exhibitions gallery and learning centre.

You know it is a VERY large institution: it occupies a large hunk of Chambers Street. And since the latest renovations cost an eye-watering £47 million, I hope visitors love inspecting the intellectual & scientific accomplishments of Scots across the world. The museum reflects its own roots in the Scottish Enlightenment, especially the Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming's Nobel Prize gold medal for the discovery of penicillin. The Discoveries Gallery encourages visitors to meet the Scots whose ideas, innovations and leadership took them to intellectual leadership in many countries.

Other treasures, that I have referred to in this blog before, are 11 of the Lewis chessmen. The rest are owned by the British Museum in London. And a group of objects that will fascinate my students of Scottish history are the Union flag and the Scottish flag raised by the Hanoverians and Jacobites respectively at the Battle of Culloden.

Millions of visitors later, the museum wanted ten more new galleries focusing on important collections of decorative art, design, fashion, science and technology. The Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed a grant of £4.85 million to help fund these galleries, which reopened in July 2016. This major award means that over £10 million of funding was put in place for the project, including £900,000 from the Scottish Government to renew the roof of the west wing of the Victorian building, where some of the new galleries have been located.