Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Inspired by our 200-year history


The National Museum of Scotland

Museum
The National Museum of Scotland is unique – a place where the arts and sciences intermingle, where the cultures of Scotland and the world meet, a space where the full spectrum of human ingenuity can be seen alongside the wonder and diversity of the natural world.

Inspired by our 200-year history, we are transforming a magnificent Victorian building to its former glory and realising our founding principle of sharing collections and inspiring the widest possible audiences.

In summer 2011 a truly world class national museum was reborn.  We restored large parts of our magnificent Victorian building to their former glory, opened 16 new galleries exploring the natural world and world cultures. By 29 July 2013, exactly two years after relaunch, 4 million people had visited since the Museum reopened.

The building
This transformation was the centrepiece of a £70 million Masterplan launched in 2004 with a vision to fundamentally change what we offered visitors, making much more of our beautiful building and rich collection to reveal our treasures in new ways.  It has achieved national and international recognition and is a platform upon which we can realise further ambitions. 

The next phase of the Masterplan will continue with the transformation of the interior architecture of this much-loved Grade A listed building. It will create ten innovative exhibition galleries devoted to our internationally important collections of decorative art & design and science & technology. 

Environmental performance
National Museums Scotland is also committed to continuously improving its environmental performance as part of a wider commitment to sustainable development. This is recognised in our role within the community which is to preserve, interpret and make accessible to all, the past and present of Scotland, of other nations and cultures, and of the natural world. Sustainability is therefore a corporate priority for the organisation.

We aspire to demonstrating and communicating best environmental practice in order to reduce our impacts on the environment and promote resource efficiency both for ourselves and the wider community, in the UK and globally.