National Museums Scotland

Coordinates: 55°56′49″N 3°11′20″W / 55.947°N 3.189°W / 55.947; -3.189

National Museums Scotland
Taigh-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba
Non Departmental Public Body overview
Formed	1 October 1985
Preceding agencies	National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland Royal Scottish Museum
Jurisdiction	Scotland
Headquarters	Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1JF
Employees	401
Minister responsible	Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs
Non Departmental Public Body executives	Bruce Minto OBE,, Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dr Gordon Rintoul CBE,, Director of National Museums Scotland
Child agencies	National Museum of Scotland National Museum of Flight National Museum of Rural Life National War Museum
Footnotes
Charity registered in Scotland (No.SC01113)

National Museums Scotland (NMS) (Scottish Gaelic: Taigh-tasgaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. It runs the national museums of Scotland.

NMS is one of the country's National Collections, and holds internationally important collections of natural sciences, decorative arts, world cultures, science and technology, and Scottish history and archaeology.

List of national museums

The National Museum of Scotland, comprising two linked museums on Chambers Street, in the Old Town of Edinburgh:
- The Museum of Scotland - concerned with the history and people of Scotland
- The Royal Museum - a general museum encompassing global geology, archaeology, natural history, science, technology and art
The National Museum of Flight, at East Fortune, East Lothian
The National Museum of Rural Life, at Wester Kittochside farm, in South Lanarkshire (previously the Museum of Scottish Country Life, previously the Scottish Agricultural Museum)
The National War Museum, at Edinburgh Castle

Other collections

The main storage building at the National Museums Collection Centre, at Granton in Edinburgh, opened in 1996. It is not currently open to the public. A new storage building has been constructed, which houses the textile and costume collections, including the Jean Muir Collection of 20th century costume and accessories.

The National Museum of Costume was located at Shambellie House, in New Abbey, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. In January 2013, National Museums Scotland announced that the National Museum of Costume was to close and the site would not reopen for 2013.^[1]

The Museum of Piping is located in the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, and displays the piping collections of National Museums Scotland.

Trustees

National Museums Scotland is Scotland's national museum service, governed by a board of trustees. It is a non-departmental public body, funded by the Education and Lifelong Learning Directorate of the Scottish Government.

It cares for many of Scotland's museum collections of national and international importance (listed above), and provides advice and expertise to other museums across the country.

Notable items in the national collections

Hearth by Andy Goldsworthy, commissioned for the Early Scottish Peoples exhibit under the management former NMS Keeper of Archaeology, Dr David Clarke.

The official website lists the following exhibits as being the highlights of its collections:^[2]

Dolly the sheep
Concorde G-BOAA (Alpha Alpha)
Tea Service of the Emperor Napoleon
Assyrian relief of King Ashurnasirpal II and a court official, from the North-West Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nimrud, excavated by Austen Henry Layard in the 1840s; the medical pioneer James Young Simpson gave the panel to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, who passed it into the national collection
Seringapatam sword, presented to David Baird by his field officers after the Battle of Seringapatam, in May 1799
Silver travelling canteen of Prince Charles Edward Stuart
Boulton & Watt engine
Bute mazer (also referred to as the Bannatyne mazer)
Calcite crystal, found in 1927 at the New Glencrieff mine at Wanlockhead on the Leadhills ore field, "an excellent example of a complex doubly terminated scalenohedral crystal" (see Dogtooth spar)
Hunterston brooch
Lewis chessmen
Monymusk reliquary
Queen Mary harp
Qurneh burial collection, discovered by Flinders Petrie on 30 December 1908, the only complete ancient royal Egyptian burial collection held outside Egypt

References

↑ http://nms.ac.uk/about_us/about_us/press_office/press_releases/2013/national_museum_of_costume.aspx
↑ "Our collections - Highlights". National Museums Scotland. Retrieved 2009-10-01.

External links

Museums and Art Galleries of Scotland

National Museums of Scotland	National Museum of Scotland National Museum of Costume National Museum of Flight National Museum of Rural Life National Museums Collection Centre National War Museum

Other museums	Aberdeen Maritime Museum Alloa Tower Biggar Museum Trust British Golf Museum David Livingstone Centre Dick Institute Discovery Point Dumfries Museum Dundee Museum of Transport Fife Folk Museum Glasgow Museum of Transport Gordon Highlanders Museum Grampian Transport Museum Highland Folk Museum Highland Museum of Childhood Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery Inveraray Jail Inverness Museum and Art Gallery John Knox House Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum King's Museum Kirkcaldy Museum and Art Gallery Marischal Museum McManus Galleries Mills Observatory Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume Museum of Childhood Museum of Edinburgh Museum of Scottish Lighthouses New Lanark Newhaven Heritage Museum North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre People's Palace People's Story Museum Perth Museum and Art Gallery Provand's Lordship Provost Skene's House Scotland Street School Museum Scotland’s Jute Museum @ Verdant Works Scottish Fisheries Museum Scottish Football Museum Scottish Maritime Museum Scottish Railway Museum Signal Tower Museum St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art Stewartry Museum Stirling Smith Museum and Art Gallery Summerlee, Museum of Scottish Industrial Life Surgeons' Hall The Tolbooth St Andrews Museum

National Galleries of Scotland	Dean Gallery Duff House Paxton House Royal Scottish Academy Building Scottish National Gallery Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Other galleries	Aberdeen Art Gallery Burrell Collection Dundee Contemporary Arts Fruitmarket Gallery Gallery of Modern Art McLellan Galleries Pier Arts Centre Queen's Gallery Talbot Rice Gallery Tramway

Executive non-departmental public bodies of the Scottish Government

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 131929757 LCCN: n89641273 ISNI: 0000 0001 1093 3291 GND: 670150-4 SUDOC: 030920442 BNF: cb122479719 (data)

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