Portable steam engines were in common use in industrialised countries from the early 19th century to the mid-20th century as power sources for machinery on farms and in rural factories.

Watch as artist Kayleigh McCallum shows you how to draw a King Penguin from our collection.

Watch as artist Kayleigh McCallum shows you how to draw an Egyptian Coffin from our collection.

Watch as artist Kayleigh McCallum shows you how to draw the Hunterston Brooch from our collection.

Summer is usually the season for gala days and rural shows, including our own Heavy Horse Show. Celebrate the champions you know – family, friends or even pets - by making them a personalised rosette!

Scotland Creates volunteer Aileen Miller explains why this pioneering Edinburgh Modular Arm System (EMAS) is so awesome

Discover what this historic tool can tell us about the story of machinery and industry in Scotland.

This exhibition revealed an insight into the lives of children in the 18th and 19th centuries through a unique collection of Scottish samplers on loan from American collector Leslie B. Durst.

The ancestor of the microscope, as we know it today, was first described in 1625. Still, it took another 250 years until the microscope was fully accepted as a scientific instrument.

This exhibition celebrated the 200th anniversary of Pringle of Scotland.

This Victorian scale model of a printing press was made in the Museum's own workshop.

The Wester Kittochside Farm at National Museum of Rural Life was owned and run by the Reid family for more than 400 years. Find out how the tenth laird and his family celebrated Christmas and New Year on the farm.

Known as the ‘jump jet’, the Harrier was the world’s first vertical take-off combat aeroplane to enter operational service. The Harrier at the National Museum of Flight is the oldest in existence.

Celebrate Insect Week 2024 with family friendly activities at the National Museum of Scotland.

The National Museum of Flight is open and tickets are available to book online.

Explore the future of flight with fun, family activities at the National Museum of Flight.

Unearth a fascinating Pictish treasure trove.

This is the oldest surviving colour television in the world. It uses a colour system invented in 1937 by Scottish engineer John Logie Baird.

Mary, Queen of Scots is one of the most famous yet enigmatic figures in Scottish history. Explore her dramatic story through objects in our collection.

Found in Scotland, these exquisite axeheads were made over 6,000 years ago, high in the Italian Alps.

On 3 December 1917, a little after 13:00, a large fireball was seen to cross southern Scotland. A short time later, an explosion was heard and four objects were seen or heard to crash to the ground around the towns of Coupar Angus and Blairgowrie in the Strathmore area of central Scotland.

Explore inside the National Museum of Rural Life with your class using our themed trails.

Among the museum's collection in storage are a group of Thai ceramics excavated at Sawankhalok.

Visitors met the most feared and revered of all dinosaurs in this cutting-edge exhibition, that brought the latest discoveries in palaeontology to life and challenging preconceptions about these ferocious predators.

Explore the story of Tipu Sultan and the Siege of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna) at the National War Museum.

The Museum’s East and Central Asian collections, comprised of over 36,000 objects, are of national and international importance. The collection includes ceramics, lacquer, prints and paintings, clothing and textiles, ivory, metalwork, jade, furniture, contemporary art, and coins.

Created in 1954, this glass sculpture marked a new collaboration between Picasso, glassmaker Egidio Costantini and the famed Fucina degli Angeli in Murano, Italy.

This small display showcased an outstanding collection of works in ceramics, glass and jewellery.

The National Museum of Rural Life is open and tickets are available to book online.

This bold and vibrant woollen pile rug once furnished the Edinburgh home of Sir Robert Murdoch Smith, the director of this museum from 1885 to 1900.

This major exhibition unravelled the complex story of the different groups who have used or been given the name ‘Celts’ through the extraordinary art objects they made and used.

Buried around the middle of the 5th century AD, this hoard of Roman silver from Traprain Law in East Lothian is the largest known from outside the Roman Empire.

Comprising multiple specialist teams, Collections Services provides conservation, collections care, collections management, digitisation, analytical science, and library services expertise across the museum.

Scottish-born Alexander Dalrymple was a significant figure in Britain’s maritime history.

Water, water everywhere with worms, whales ​and sharks ​- and simple solutions for boiling water and solar energy.

Discover amazing science from inside your own home as we explore the elemental themes of the Edinburgh Science Festival 2020.

Sir James Black was one of the greatest Scottish scientists of the modern era. His work in medicine and pharmacology has improved the quality of life for millions of people around the world.

Curator Dr Martin Goldberg joins Vikings writer and producer Michael Hirst to delve into the mysteries of the incredible Galloway Hoard.

This exhibition explored design classics to cutting-edge catwalk creations, Beyond the Little Black Dress deconstructs this iconic garment and examines the radical power of the colour black in fashion.

Get hands-on with craft ideas inspired by our collections.

This unique water basin, shaped like a citadel, was made by Moroccan potters, probably as a diplomatic gift, in the 19th century.

Uniquely Scottish Silver brings together five distinctively Scottish silver designs: mazers, quaichs, thistle cups, ovoid urns and heart brooches.

Welcome to the world of the Lewis chess pieces! Discover all there is to know about these mysterious figures in this interactive resource.

There are over 20,000 wood engraving blocks in the W. & R. Chambers Collection at National Museums Scotland. Over 7,000 of these blocks were created to print the illustrations in Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, which was first published in 1859.

Read our guiding policies and explore annual reviews and reports.

After 4,000 years the plough is still with us and its development has been at a slow and steady pace but the basic technology has remained the same. Discover more about this essential tool through ploughs in our collection.

This hunting rifle was gifted by Queen Victoria to her loyal servant, John Brown.