Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Don't Miss
Architecture
The museum's exterior is a neo-Gothic froth of friezes, pinnacles and sculptures - the
niches at 1st-floor level hold statues of Scottish kings and queens, philosophers and poets,
artists and scientists. Mary, Queen of Scots is in the middle of the east wall on North St
Andrew St, while the main entrance is framed by Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.
Great Hall
The gallery's interior is decorated in Arts and Crafts style, nowhere more splendidly than
in the Great Hall. Above the Gothic colonnade a processional frieze painted by William
Hole in 1898 serves as a 'visual encyclopedia' of famous Scots, shown in chronological
order from Calgacus (the chieftain who led the Caledonian tribes into battle against the
Romans) to writer and philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881). The murals on the 1st-
floor balcony depict scenes from Scottish history, while the ceiling is painted with the
constellations of the night sky.
Bonnie Prince Charlie
Contrast the 1750 portrait of a dashing Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-88), in tartan
suit and Jacobite bonnet, at a time when he still had hopes of returning to Scotland to
claim the throne, and the one painted towards the end of his life - exiled in Rome, an al-
coholic, a broken man.
Three Oncologists (2002)
This eerie portrait by Ken Currie, of three leading cancer specialists, somehow captures
the horror of the disease along with the sense that their achievements in treating it are a
kind of alchemical mystery.
Top Tips
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The gallery's selection of 'trails' leaflets adds a bit of background information while leading
you around the various exhibits; the Hidden Histories trail is particularly interesting.
