National Museum of Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland stands in central Edinburgh beside Chambers Street, where two connected buildings face each other. The older building, begun in 1861, shows a grand Victorian Venetian Renaissance front with a tall cast-iron hall inside designed by Francis Fowke and Robert Matheson. The newer building, opened in 1998, houses modern galleries and sits next to the older structure. Both buildings belong to National Museums Scotland and together form the museum. The museum is worth the journey because it holds Scotland’s largest collections of archaeology, natural history and world cultures. In 2025 it drew more than two million visitors, making it Scotland’s most popular attraction that year. Among its notable exhibits is Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. The galleries also display Egyptian antiquities, Elton John’s stage costumes and a large kinetic clock. The museum’s origins go back to a 17th-century natural history collection at the University of Edinburgh. Visitors find sixteen new galleries opened in 2011, eight thousand objects and many items never before shown. The grand central hall of the older building rises through all floors, giving a sense of scale to the exhibits. Costume displays include the Jean Muir collection, while science and technology galleries show Scottish inventions such as the Scottish Maiden beheading machine. Outside, Chambers Street links the museum to the city centre, and the Victorian façade frames views of Edinburgh’s historic streets.