National Museum of Scotland

The National Museum of Scotland is an essential place to visit if you spend any time in Edinburgh. It has a wide ranging collection which covers various periods of Scottish history from the Picts through the Vikings, the times of Wallace and Bruce, the Jacobites and all the way up to the present day with an exhibit about the first cloned sheep in the world, Dolly.

You can see the intricately carved Lewis chessmen, early Scottish flags and maps and a replica of Mary, Queen of Scots tomb. There are also beautiful bronze figures sculpted by Eduardo Paolozzi, a gorgeous piece of Pictish jewellery known as the Hunterston Brooch and a frightening guillotine called the Maiden which despatched quite a few criminals over the years.

The Museum of Scotland was constructed in 1998 and added on to the end of the stunning Victorian Royal Museum on Chambers Street. The original building has countless wonders on several levels and I spent many happy hours wandering there as a kid. Perhaps the greatest fascination was the huge whale skeleton although the revolving door entrance was also a big draw. The older museum also includes natural history, a wonderful mechanical model of our solar system and even an ancient Egyptian section.

The newly constructed portion is based on the old broch tower style of architecture but inside it is a bizarre super modern chaos of bridges and cut away portions offering a series of beautiful, well lit spaces in which to create interesting displays. It is completely free to visit and both guided and audio tours are available for a small fee.