Edinburgh - Scotland - page 120

The site of a cattle market from the 15th century until the start of the 20th century, the
Grassmarket has always been a focal point of the Old Town. It was also the city's main
place of execution , and over 100 martyred Covenanters are commemorated by a monu-
ment at the eastern end, where the gallows used to stand. The notorious murderers Burke
and Hare ( Click here ) operated from a now-vanished close off the western end.
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND: HIGHLIGHTS
Begin at the main entrance in the middle of Chambers St, rather than the modern tower at the west end of the
street. This opens into an atmospheric entrance hall occupying what used to be the museum cellars where you'll
find an information desk with museum maps and leaflets, a cloakroom, toilets and a cafe-restaurant. Stairs lead up
into the light of the Grand Gallery , a spectacular glass-roofed atrium lined with cast-iron pillars and balconies
that is the centrepiece of the original Victorian museum.
This half of the building is devoted to the natural world, art and design, and world cultures. A door at the east
end of the gallery leads into Animal World , one of the most impressive of the museum's new exhibits. No dusty,
static regiments of stuffed creatures here, but a beautiful and dynamic display of animals apparently caught in the
act of bounding, leaping or pouncing, arranged in groups that illustrate different means of locomotion, methods of
feeding, and modes of reproduction. Extinct creatures mingle with the living, including a full-size skeleton of
Tyrannosausus rex .
Take some time to explore the exhibits ranged around the balconies of the Grand Gallery, billed as a Window
on the World that showcases more than 800 items from the museum's collections, ranging from the world's
largest scrimshaw carving, occupying two full-size sperm whale jawbones, to a four-seat racing bicycle dating
from 1898.
Return to the ground floor of the Grand Gallery and go through the Connect exhibit at the western end - where
Dolly the Sheep , the world's first mammal cloned from an adult cell, is on display - to emerge into Hawthornden
Court, the soaring central atrium of the modern half of the museum, graced by the Formula 1 racing car driven
by Sir Jackie Stewart in the 1970s. This half of the building is devoted to Scottish history and culture.
Stairs at the far end lead down to the Early Peoples galleries on level 0, decorated with intriguing humanoid
sculptures by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi. Look for the Cramond Lioness , a Roman sculpture of a lion gripping a hu-
man head in her jaws that was discovered in the River Almond in 1997, and the 20kg of 5th-century silver that
makes up the Traprain Treasure .
From here, you work your way upwards through the the history of Scotland. Highlights of the medieval King-
dom of the Scots galleries, on levels 1 and 2, include the Monymusk Reliquary , a tiny silver casket dating from
AD 750, which is said to have been carried into battle with Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314; and the
famous Lewis Chessmen , a set of charming 12th-century chess pieces carved from walrus ivory, that was dis-
covered on Uig beach on the Isle of Lewis.
Continue up through levels 3 and 4, which follow Scotland's progress through the Industrial Revolution, po-
tently symbolised by the towering Newcomen atmospheric engine that once pumped water from flooded
Ayrshire coal mines. The Ways of Death exhibit on level 5 - a Goth's paradise of jet jewellery and mourning
bracelets made from human hair - contains several fascinating objects, including the tiny and mysterious Ar-
thur's Seat coffins that were discovered in Holyrood Park in 1836, and which featured in Ian Rankin's Inspector
Rebus novel The Falls .