AROUND TOWN | Museums & Attractions
Visitors can see the headline-grabbing giant pandas, the famous Penguin Parade and more than 1000 other rare and interesting animals and birds at this site three miles west of the city centre. ■ HOLYROOD PARK Holyrood Park Road, 652 8150, historic- scotland.gov.uk Open at all times; Holyrood Lodge Information Centre daily 9.30am–3pm. Free. The main entrance to this large royal park, east of the city centre, is flanked by the Palace of Holyrood House and the Scottish Parliament Building. Its main feature is Arthur’s Seat, an 823ft hill which has a number of smaller peaks and lochs surrounding it.
■ MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD 42 High Street, 529 4142, edinburghmuseums.org.uk Mon–Sat 10am–5pm; Sun noon–5pm. Free. Kids can learn about the toys, clothes and lifestyles of children of the past in this Royal Mile museum. Nostalgia for grown- ups guaranteed.
■ MUSEUM ON THE MOUND The Mound, 243 5464, museumonthemound.com Tue–Fri 10am–5pm; Sat & Sun 1–5pm; closed Mon. Free. Hosted inside the Bank of Scotland’s head office, this museum is all about money. Learn how money has evolved over the past 4000 years or try cracking a safe.
■ NATIONAL MINING MUSEUM SCOTLAND Lady Victoria Colliery, Newtongrange, 663 7519, scottishminingmuseum.com Daily 10am–5pm. £8.50 (£6.50; children free). Nine miles south of Edinburgh, this museum is one of the best-preserved Victorian collieries in Europe. Learn about the life of a miner by taking a tour around the site. ■ NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Chambers Street, 0300 123 6789, nms. ac.uk Daily 10am–5pm. Free. Renovated in 2011, this national beacon of culture has exhibitions on natural history, science and technology, Scottish history, art and design and world cultures in galleries surrounding a beautiful naturally-lit atrium space. Ming: The Golden Empire Until Sun 31 Aug. £10 (£6.50–£8; under 12s and members free). An overview of the legacy of the Ming Dynasty, which ruled China from 1368 to 1644 and which presided over an era of unprecedented national stability. See original artefacts from the Nanjing Museum in the only UK showing of this major exhibition. FREE Scotland Creates: A Sense of Place Until Sun 31 Aug. Young people from across Scotland showcase what is important where they come from, spanning art, music, dance and film. FREE Common Cause: Commonwealth Scots and the
FORTH BRIDGES FESTIVAL Celebrating the Forth Road Bridge’s half decade
It just so happens that this year of historic events happening in Scotland will also see the relatively minor but not inconsiderable 50th anniversary of the Forth Road Bridge arrive, even as the Firth’s third bridge, the Queensferry Crossing, rises from the river alongside it. Fortunately, with the second bi-annual Year of Homecoming also going on, the occasion has been noticed and is being celebrated with a ten- day festival devoted entirely to one of the most iconic and atmospheric crossing points in the world. ‘The Forth Bridges Festival is a celebration of the 50th birthday of the
Forth Road Bridge,’ says Chris Waite, chair of the festival’s steering group, ‘and also a celebration of three centuries of world-class bridge engineering on the Forth. Both the Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge are iconic symbols of Scotland that people at home and abroad identify and have an affinity with. These are special bridges, and both are at the heart of the festival.’
The programme of events running across the festival incorporates the bridges themselves and the surrounding communities in North and South Queensferry, including a day-long celebration of the nation’s food entitled ‘Scotland Welcomes the World to Lunch’, car and bike rallies across the Road Bridge, boat flotillas on the Forth itself and digital and exhibited projects capturing people’s memories of living in the shadow of the bridges. With walking trips to the top of the Road Bridge proving popular in the run-up to the event, a torchlit procession and fireworks display will bring it to a close on Saturday 13 September. (David Pollock) ■ Various venues around the Firth of Forth, Thu 4–Sat 13 Sep, forthbridgesfestival.com
Great War Until Sun 12 Oct. To commemorate the outbreak of war in 1914, this exhibition looks at the relationship between Scottish identity and the emerging national identities of the former British Empire. ■ OUR DYNAMIC EARTH Holyrood Road, 550 7800, dynamicearth. co.uk Daily 10am–6pm (last entry 4.30pm). £11–£12.50 (£9.25–£10.50; under 16s £7.25–£7.95; under 3s free). Take an interactive journey through the history of the earth. Go to the tundra or the bottom of the ocean, never being more
than a stone’s throw from the Scottish Parliament and Arthur’s Seat.
■ PALACE OF HOLYROODHOUSE Royal Mile, 556 5100, royalcollection. org.uk Daily 9.30am–6pm until Sun 31 Aug; from Mon 1 Sep 10am–5.30pm (last entry 1.5hr before close). £11.30 (£10.30; under 17s £6.80; under 5s free; family £29.40). The official Scottish residence of the Queen, this baroque palace was once home to Mary, Queen of Scots and now houses the great artworks and tapestries of its regal residents. Poetry for the Palace: Poets Laureate from Dryden to Duffy Until Sun 2 Nov. Exploration of the relationship between the poet and the monarch, with original manuscripts and images of poets including Dryden, Wordsworth, Tennyson and current Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy.
■ REAL MARY KING’S CLOSE 2 Warriston’s Close, High St, 0845 070 6244, realmarykingsclose.com Daily 10am–9pm. £12.95 (£11.45; children £7.45). Beneath the Royal Mile lies a warren of hidden closes where citizens of Edinburgh lived and died in the 16th and 17th centuries. The underground tours are led by guides in the character of real people who lived in the close. ■ ROYAL BOTANIC GARDEN EDINBURGH Inverleith Row, 552 7171, rbge.org.uk Daily 10am–6pm. Free; glasshouse entry £5 (£4; children free). These gardens, founded in the 17th century, cover over 70
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42 THE LIST 21 Aug–18 Sep 2014
acres and are just one mile from the city centre. There are glasshouses and cafés within the grounds, as well as high-profile art exhibitions at Inverleith House. ■ ROYAL OBSERVATORY VISITOR CENTRE Blackford Hill, 668 8404, roe.ac.uk/ vc Entry by arrangement or at Public Astronomy evenings (weekly, Fri 7.30–9pm). Public Astronomy evenings £4 (£3). See the stars through the research centre’s magnificent copper domes at weekly astronomy evenings.
■ ROYAL YACHT BRITANNIA Ocean Terminal, Leith, 555 5566, royalyachtbritannia.co.uk Daily 9.30am–4.30pm. £12.75 (£11.50; under 18s £7.75; under 5s free; family £36.50). Take a guided tour of the ornate floating royal residence (and the naval quarters below) and learn about life aboard the yacht, which served the royal family for almost 50 years.
■ SCOTCH WHISKY EXPERIENCE 354 Castlehill, 220 0441, scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk Daily 10am–6pm; entry is as part of a tour. Tours £12.75–£52 (£10.25–£26; under 18s £6.50). Learn more about Scotland’s tastiest export with a tour and tasting session. There is also a bar and restaurant if you need a few more drams to help decide which is your favourite. ■ SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT Horse Wynd, 0800 092 7500, scottish. parliament.uk Opening hours vary according to whether Parliament is in session, see website for details. Free. See Spanish architect Enric Miralles’ magnificent (and controversial) Holyrood building, take a tour of the interior, sit in on a debate or look at the artwork. The Great Tapestry of Scotland Until Sat 13 Sep 2014. Potentially the world’s longest tapestry (at 143m), it tells the story of Scotland’s history from the geological formation of the land to the re-convention of the Scottish Parliament in 1998.
■ SCOTT MONUMENT Princes Street Gardens East, 529 4068, edinburghmuseums.org.uk Daily 10am–7pm. £4. Commemorating Sir Walter Scott, this is the largest monument of any writer in the world. Take all 287 steps to the top for a great view of the city, plus occasional exhibitions.
■ SCOTTISH STORYTELLING CENTRE AND JOHN KNOX HOUSE 43–45 High Street, 556 9579, scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk Mon–Sat 10am–6pm; Sun noon–6pm until Sun 31 Aug; from Mon 1 Sep Mon–Sat only. Free entry to SSC; John Knox House £5 (£4; children £1; under 7s free). A stylish contemporary building appended to the 15th-century home of Protestant reformer John Knox, housing materials relating to Scotland’s rich oral culture.
EVENTS Events are listed by city, then type. Submit listings at least 14 days before publication by using our ‘Add an Event’ service at list.co.uk. Listings compiled by Jaclyn Arndt. ✽ Indicates Hitlist entry
GLASGOW
Activities & Events Watch the Birdie Sat 23 & Sun 24 Aug, 1–3pm. £5. Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, 200 Woodhead Road, South Nitshill Industrial Estate, 276 9300. View the photographs in Glasgow’s collection before taking your own with an actual film camera, like a Victorian pro.