National museum of Scotland, Chambers Street

Today was the supposedly the best day of the week, weatherwise, and it was humid and dull. Apparently, we have weather warnings in place for the rest of the week! Still, at least it was dry for all the people at the Queen's Garden Party at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Here is a black and white blip of the National Museum of Scotland.

Formerly, the Royal Museum building was begun in 1861, and partially opened in 1866, with a Victorian Romanesque Revival facade and a grand central hall of cast iron construction that rises the full height of the building. This building re-opened on 29 July 2011 after a £47 million project to restore and extend the building, and redesign the exhibitions (by Ralph Appelbaum).

The museum incorporates the collections of the former National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, and the Royal Museum. As well as the main national collections of Scottish archaeological finds and medieval objects, the museum contains artifacts from around the world, encompassing geology, archaeology, natural history, science, technology and art.

The 16 new galleries re-opened in 2011 include 8,000 objects, 80% of which were not formerly on display. One of the more notable exhibits is the stuffed body of Dolly the sheep, the first successful clone of a mammal from an adult cell. Other highlights include Ancient Egyptian exhibitions, one of Elton John's extravagant suits and a large kinetic sculpture named the Millennium Clock. A Scottish invention that is a perennial favourite with school parties is The Maiden, an early form of guillotine.