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Royal Museum

 
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Royal Museum
 
 
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For other museums called the Royal Museum, see Royal Museum (disambiguation)
Royal Museum (disambiguation)

Royal Museum is a common name for official state museums in countries with a monarchy, or which formerly had one. Royal Museum may refer to:...
.


The Royal Museum is the old name for part of the National Museum of Scotland, one of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
's national museums
National Museums of Scotland

National Museums Scotland is the family of several national museums in Scotland....
, on Chambers Street
Chambers Street

Chambers Street can be used to refer to*Chambers Street , a street in Edinburgh, Scotland*Chambers Street , a street in New York City, New York, USA...
, in Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
.

The Royal Museum began in the 19th century and was added to in the 1990s when a new building known as The Museum of Scotland was added on. Both names became defunct in 2007 when they were merged into The National Museum of Scotland.






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Encyclopedia


For other museums called the Royal Museum, see Royal Museum (disambiguation)
Royal Museum (disambiguation)

Royal Museum is a common name for official state museums in countries with a monarchy, or which formerly had one. Royal Museum may refer to:...
.


The Royal Museum is the old name for part of the National Museum of Scotland, one of Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
's national museums
National Museums of Scotland

National Museums Scotland is the family of several national museums in Scotland....
, on Chambers Street
Chambers Street

Chambers Street can be used to refer to*Chambers Street , a street in Edinburgh, Scotland*Chambers Street , a street in New York City, New York, USA...
, in Edinburgh
Edinburgh

Edinburgh ; is the Capital city of Scotland, a position it has held since 1437. It is the seventh largest city in the United Kingdom and the second largest Scottish City status in the United Kingdom after Glasgow....
.

The Royal Museum began in the 19th century and was added to in the 1990s when a new building known as The Museum of Scotland was added on. Both names became defunct in 2007 when they were merged into The National Museum of Scotland. Admission, other than for special temporary exhibitions, is free.

Collections


The museum contains artifacts from around the world, encompassing geology
Geology

Geology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitute the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structural geology, physical properties, dynamics, and History of the Earth of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed....
, archaeology
Archaeology

Archaeology, archeology, or arch?ology is the science that studies Homo cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, Artifact , features, Biofact s, and cultural landscape....
, natural history
Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals....
, science
Science

In its broadest sense, science refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In its more usual restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research....
, technology
Technology

Technology is a broad concept that deals with an animal species' usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects an animal species' ability to control and adapt to its Natural environment....
 and art
Art

Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music and literature....
. One of the more notable exhibits is the stuffed body of Dolly the sheep
Dolly the Sheep

Dolly was a Domestic sheep , remarkable in being the first mammal to be cloning from an adult somatic cell cell , using the process of nuclear transfer....
, the first successful clone of a mammal from an adult cell. Other highlights include Ancient Egyptian
History of Ancient Egypt

The History of ancient Egypt spans the period from the early Predynastic Egypt settlements of the northern Nile Valley to the History of Roman Egypt in 30 BC....
 exhibitions, one of Elton John
Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John Order of the British Empire is an England singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s....
's extravagant suits, a suspended whale
Whale

Whales are marine mammals of order Cetacea which are neither dolphinsmembers, in other words, of the families Oceanic dolphin or River dolphinnor porpoises....
 skeleton and the Millennium
Millennium

A millennium is a period of time equal to one thousand years . The term may implicitly refer to calendar millenniums; periods tied numerically to a particular calendar, specifically ones that begin at the starting point of the calendar in question or in later years which are whole number multiples of a thousand years after it....
 clock. The wing which contains the aforementioned whale skeleton is temporarily closed for renovation, and will reopen in 2011.

Temporary Collections


The museum currently has an exhibit on Picasso ("Fired With Passion") for which an extra fee is charged. Past temporary exhibits include the Ivy Wu gallery with exhibits of art and script from Japan
Japan

Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south....
, China
China

China is a Culture of China, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
 and Korea
Korea

Korea is a geographic area composed of two sovereign countries, a civilization, and a former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia....
 and ran from 2006 to Oct 2008.

The museum has been known to display prank exhibits on April Fool's Day on at least one occasion. In 1975, a fictitious bird called the Bare-fronted Hoodwink
Bare-fronted Hoodwink

The Bare-fronted Hoodwink was a hoax created by ornithologist Maury F. A. Meiklejohn.The Hoodwink has the ability to be "almost seen" or "almost captured"....
 (known for its innate ability to fly away from observers before they could accurately identify it) was put on display. The exhibit included photos of blurry birds flying away. To make the exhibit more convincing, a mount of the bird was sewn together by a taxidermist from various scraps of real birds, including the head of a Carrion Crow
Carrion Crow

The Carrion Crow is a member of the passerine order of birds and the crow family which is native to western Europe and eastern Asia....
, the body of a Plover
Plover

Plovers are a widely distributed group of wader birds belonging to the subfamily Charadriinae. They are known to dive in lakes looking for fish....
, and the feet of an unknown waterfowl
Waterfowl

Waterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, goose, and swans.They are strong swimmers with medium to large bodies....
. The bare front was compromised with wax
Wax

Wax has traditionally referred to a substance that is secreted by bees and used by them in constructing their honeycombs.It is an imprecisely defined term generally understood to be a substance with properties similar to beeswax, namely...
.

History and architecture

Construction was started in 1861 and proceeded in phases, with some sections opening before others had even begun construction. The original extent of the building was completed in 1888. It was designed by Captain Francis Fowke of the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers

The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the Structure of the British Army of the British Army....
, who is also responsible for the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall

The Royal Albert Hall is an arts venue situated in the Knightsbridge area of the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
. The exterior, designed in a Venetian
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
 Renaissance
Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe....
 style, contrasts sharply with the light flooded main hall, inspired by The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was a Cast iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, London, England, to house the The Great Exhibition of 1851....
.

Initially, much of its collection came from the Museum of Edinburgh University; there is even a bridge connecting the museum to the University's Old College building. The students saw the collection as their own, and curator
Curator

Curator , means manager, Wiktionary:overseer.Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a culture heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's Collection s and, together with a publications specialist, their associated collections catalogs....
s would often find the exhibits rearranged or even missing. The final straw came in the 1870s, when students who were holding a party found that the museum was also holding a reception for local dignitaries, and had stored refreshments in the bridge. When the museum found the refreshments missing, the bridge was bricked up the next day, as it has remained since.

Numerous extensions to the back have extended the museum greatly since then. In 1998 the Museum of Scotland
Museum of Scotland

The Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, is a building which, together with the adjacent Royal Museum, comprises the National Museum of Scotland....
 opened, which is linked internally to the Royal Museum. The two separate museums were them merged into one called The National Museum of Scotland in 2007.

Footnotes



External links