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National Museums Scotland
Taighean-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 Chris Breward, Director of National Museums Scotland;
Child agencies	National Museum of Scotland; National Museum of Flight; National Museum of Rural Life; National War Museum;
Website	www.nms.ac.uk
Footnotes
	Charity registered in Scotland (No.SC01113)

National Museums Scotland (NMS; Scottish Gaelic: Taighean-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 open to the public for guided tours. 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]

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.

Notable items in the national collections

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

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
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)
Concorde G-BOAA (Alpha Alpha)
Dolly the sheep
Galloway Hoard
Hunterston Brooch
Lewis chessmen
One of the three skins left of the Mauritius blue pigeon
Monymusk reliquary
Prince Charlie's Targe and backsword^[3]
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
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
Talnotrie Hoard
Tea Service of the Emperor Napoleon

References

^ "National Museum of Costume to close" (Press release). National Museums Scotland. 4 February 2013. Archived from the original on 12 August 2013.
^ "Our collections - Highlights". National Museums Scotland. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
^ "Gifts for a Prince: Bonnie Prince Charlie's targe and backsword". National Museums Scotland. 17 July 2024. Retrieved 6 January 2025.