Museums in Lothian

Coastal Communities Museum is a fascinating museum with collections covering local history, archaeology and natural history of the Lothian coast. Exhibits include displays on gold and the seabirds that make the area a magnet for bird watchers.
School Road, North Berwick, Lothian, Scotland, EH39 4JU

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The Linlithgow Museum tells the story of Linlithgow and its people. The museum stands on Linlithgow's historic High Street just a short stroll from Linlithgow Palace.
Linlithgow Partnership Centre, 93 High Street, Linlithgow, Lothian, Scotland, EH49 7EZ

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Heritage Highlight: The first life-size statue of Mary, Queen of Scots to be commissioned in Scotland.

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Explore the story of Edinburgh in this delightful small museum on the Royal Mile. The museum collections include silverware made on site by the Incorporation of Hammermen of the Canongate. The prize exhibit is the National Covenant but also look out for Greyfriar Bobby's collar and bowl.
Huntly House, 142 Canongate, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, EH8 8DD

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Heritage Highlight: Set in a group of historic 16th/18th-century buildings

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Three historic attractions in one; a museum set in a 16th-century doocot overlooks the site of a 9th-century battle where St Andrew's Cross was established as the flag of Scotland. The doocot stands behind a 1780 church, on the site of a 12th-century building founded by the mother of King William the Lion. In the churchyard is the Saltire Memorial, commemorating the battle.
Athelstaneford Parish Church, Main Street, Athelstaneford, Lothian, Scotland, EH39 5BE

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Heritage Highlight: Housed in a 16th-century doocot

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This outstation of the National Museums of Scotland covers the history of aviation in Scotland. Aircraft on display range from a 1930 De Haviland Puss Moth monoplane to a 1945 Spitfire. Exhibits include trainer cockpits, engines, scale models and the Battle of Britain.
East Fortune Airfield, Haddington, Lothian, Scotland, EH39 5LF

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One of the great museums of Britain and a magnet for visitors to Edinburgh. The museum is partly housed in an ornate Victorian Romanesque Revival building featuring a huge Grand Gallery. Famous objects on show include the 13th-century Lewis Chessmen and the 7th-century Monymusk Reliquary.
Chambers Street, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, EH1 1JF

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Heritage Highlight: Superb display of objects related to Scottish history

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Preston Mill is an unusual and eye-catching 18th-century mill with a conical kiln and red pantile roof that looks like a combination of an oast house and a wizard's hat. A short walk away is the Phantassie Doocot, a restored 16th-century dovecot.
East Linton, Lothian, Scotland, EH40 3DS

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The Scottish Mining Museum is set in a Victorian coal mine that retains much of its original mining machinery. This fascinating museum covers the history of mines and miners throughout Scottish history, with displays of equipment, archival material, old photographs, and objects associated with mining in Scotland through the centuries.
Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, Lothian, Scotland, EH22 4QN

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Heritage Highlight: Original Victorian mining equipment and buildings

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Scotland's national collection of art, housed in a neoclassical building off Princes Street. The Gallery spans centuries of Scottish art but also holds Old Masters and European Renaissance art. Famous Scottish artists like Sir Henry Raeburn and Allan Ramsay share space with Rembrandt, Da Vinci, Titian, and El Greco, as well as fashionable English artists such as Gainsborough, Turner, and Constable. Free entry.
The Mound, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, EH2 2EL

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The national collection of historic portraits of Scots - though not necessarily by Scottish artists. There are two portraits of Mary, Queen of Scots, and popular works by artists such as Allan Ramsay and Sir Henry Raeburn. The gallery is housed in an opulent Victorian building decorated with superb late 19th-century murals. The earliest portrait is of James IV of Scotland, painted in 1507.
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh, Lothian, Scotland, EH2 1JD

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