Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, the collection of 13 venues and monuments across the city, are full of exhibitions, events and experiences to keep the kids entertained this half term.
From climbing the steps of ancient monuments, to catching the final weekend of a 5* art exhibition, there’s something for all interests and ages. Continue reading What’s on at Museums & Galleries Edinburgh this October half term
Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, the collection of 14 venues owned and managed by the City of Edinburgh Council, has a new website.
Highlights and hidden gems of the city’s collections will be brought to life and showcased through engaging, new content with top tips and guides on how best to discover and explore each venue, many of which are free to enter. Continue reading Edinburgh’s new museums website goes live
A new museum display in Cramond has used forensic techniques to put a face to ‘Cramond Murderer’ John Howison for the first time. The life-like profile of the 19th Century killer is exhibited next to a replica of his skull in a free display now open at Cramond’s Maltings Interpretation Centre.
(now there’s a headline to get Daily Mail readers spluttering over their corn flakes!)
An exhibition that highlights the immense contribution by Germans to British life is being shown in Scotland for the first time at National Records of Scotland.
Among the documents from the national archives chosen to tell the story of Germans in Scotland is a register recording the baptism in 1598 of the son of the German doctor who attended Anne of Denmark, James VI’s queen.
The free exhibition explores the many facets of the long and productive relationship between Germans living and working in Britain and their hosts. It has been created by the Migration Museum Project in order to celebrate the history of co-operation and friendly relations between Britain and Germany.
The pop-up exhibition looks at how German connections have shaped everything from sport, business, the monarchy, science, music and the creative arts, and is complemented by specially selected original documents from the huge holdings of National Records of Scotland.
The exhibition at General Register House, 2 Princes Street, runs from 6 July until 7 August, Monday – Friday, 9am – 4.30.
Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, said: “This exhibition celebrates the strong historic links between Germany and Britain and highlights bonds between the people of our two nations stemming back hundreds of years. Our archive provides a fascinating insight into some of the close ties that have connected the people of Scotland and Germany over the centuries.”
Tim Ellis, Keeper of the Records of Scotland and Registrar General, said: “We’re delighted to be hosting this fascinating exploration of the long contacts between Britain and Germany, and to be able to complement it with gems from our own archives that record the presence of Germans in Scotland for more than 400 years. The exhibition has been made possible by our partnership with the German Consulate General in Scotland and the Migration Museum Project.”
Verena Gräfin von Roedern, German Consul General in Scotland, said: “We are delighted that this important exhibition has found its way to Scotland. A huge number of Germans have become an active part of British society. According to the 2011 census, more than twenty thousand Germans are currently resident in Scotland. As Consul General it has been my pleasure to get to know Germans from all walks of life, who contribute amongst others to Scotland’s higher education institutes, national health services, cultural and even culinary landscape.”
Sophie Henderson, Project Director, Migration Museum Project, said: “It is very exciting for us at the Migration Museum Project to see German–Scottish histories drawn out and spotlighted in this way, using our exhibition as a backdrop. The long history of German migrants in Scotland, beautifully demonstrated with material from National Records of Scotland, goes to show that immigration is not just some awkward, new phenomenon, but a rich, old story and one that is, in many cases, still waiting to be told.”
The Museum of Edinburgh, located on the Royal Mile in a series of 16th and 17th century houses, has unveiled two new interactive exhibits.
The City of Edinburgh Council owned and managed Museum has partnered with Edinburgh-based Insurgent Studios to bring the stories behind some of the city’s treasured artefacts to life.
Designed to faithfully recreate historical locations to provide an original addition to the city’s museum collection, the free-to-enter exhibits blend history and technology to enhance the overall enjoyment of a trip to the Museum.
Visitors can discover the life and times of Edinburgh-born WW1 British Commander Earl Haig, who created The Royal British Legion and raised funds for the welfare of ex-servicemen after the war. A second installation focuses on the Museum’s secret Courtyard which opens to the public for the first time in more than a decade.
The Courtyard has been landscaped with the help of local volunteers and community service workers, and a digital window onto the re-opened Courtyard will allow visitors to view life in the Canongate through the centuries.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Convener for Culture and Sport said: “With the exciting addition of these interactive exhibits and the pull of the popular Greyfriars Bobby collection, the Museum of Edinburgh is going to be a must-visit this summer.
“This digital trial is a first for the Council’s museums and galleries service and will be an exciting opportunity to discover how our cultural offering might be able to use new technology to shape our knowledge of the past. Appealing to visitors of all ages, the hands-on experience will allow anyone with an interest in Edinburgh’s history to physically connect with some of the Museum’s artefacts.”
Craig Hunter, Managing Director of Insurgent Studios, said: “The Council shares our enthusiasm to use the latest technology to enable the telling of old stories in new ways. We worked carefully to put the visitor at the centre of the experience, allowing them to ‘touch’ the objects we recreated in virtual form, to experience the installations at their own pace and in a variety of languages.
“The visitor is rewarded for engaging closely with the collection by the award of ‘achievements’ throughout the experience. Our approach to digital conservation allowed us to work with the team at the Council’s Museum of Edinburgh to showcase some items from the collections which would not otherwise be on display. We believe that these installations will appeal to everyone by literally putting history at their fingertips.”
Insurgent has also launched a microsite to detail the experience of creating the exhibits and using them.
The Museum of Edinburgh is open Monday to Saturday 10am-5pm and in August it is also open on Sundays 12 noon-5pm.
And it’s FREE!
The story of the first German air attacks to hit Britain, The Forth Bridge Raid, will be chronicled at a new exhibition which opened today at the Queensferry Museum.
The pop-up display features photographs, film footage, and eyewitness accounts of the deadly air raid, which saw German bomber planes attack three ships on the Firth of Forth – HMS Edinburgh, HMS Southampton and HMS Mohawk.
During the attack, passengers on the train crossing the Forth Bridge at the time could witness explosions over the waters. The raid left 24 men dead and 44 injured, and four German airmen were captured and taken as prisoners of war to Edinburgh Castle.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Culture and Sport Convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “The Forth Bridge Raid was a dark moment in Queensferry’s history. It also struck a chord across the country and people felt the impact of the war in Britain as the losses were reported. It’s important this story isn’t forgotten and The Forth Bridge Raid exhibition is a reminder to those local people who know about the events that took place, and an interactive way to introduce the history of WW2 in Scotland to younger generations.
“Queensferry Museum is free to enter and it’s great to be able to work with local people and organisations like Queensferry Tours to chronicle the history and customs of the local area. We are also trialling a small display called War Time Queensferry in the local library, and should these partnerships prove a hit with visitors we will look at introducing more pop-up exhibitions.”
The display has been curated by Mark Taylor from Queensferry Tours, which provides historic walking tours through the old Royal Burgh town of Queensferry. Mark was struck by how little isknown and has been told about the Forth Bridge air raid. He said: “This pop-up exhibition will be displayed in Queensferry Museum and I am delighted that the Council’s Museums Service has allowed me to tell the story of the Forth Bridge Raid. For such a landmark event at the beginning of WW2 it seems to me a story that merits re-telling. It was the first time Spitfires were ever used in combat – an important event that should not be forgotten and it all happened here, above our Forth Bridge.”
Edward Thomson, an eye witness who was 10-years-old and travelling by train over the Forth Bridge at the time, said: “I was a passenger on the Dundee section of an Edinburgh to Aberdeen train which had just entered the first arch at the southern end of the bridge. The next stop was to be Leuchars Junction. I was in the corridor with an older boy called Jack Thomas from Edinburgh. We were looking downstream to the right of the carriage and were trying to identify some of the fleet at anchor below the bridge. Almost simultaneously there was a giant waterspout as high as the bridge alongside one of the capital ships and a barge tied up alongside; it seemed to fly up in the air! The German bombers were in plain sight only a short distance away flying parallel to the bridge.”
The exhibition, The Forth Bridge Raid, will be on display until 1 June 2015. The Queensferry Museum is free to enter and open Thursday through to Monday (closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays).
Photographs: Queensferry Museum
