About
The Museum of Edinburgh, housed in the charming 16th-century Huntly House on the Royal Mile, tells the fascinating story of Scotland's capital city from prehistoric times to the present day through an exceptional collection of objects, artifacts, and personal stories. This hidden gem in Edinburgh's Old Town occupies one of the Royal Mile's finest surviving merchant houses, a labyrinthine building with over twenty rooms across multiple floors, each revealing different aspects of Edinburgh's rich urban history.
Established in 1932, the museum's collections have grown to encompass over 80,000 objects documenting Edinburgh life across the centuries, from Roman and medieval archaeology to Victorian commerce, 20th-century culture, and contemporary community collections.
The museum brings Edinburgh's past to life through everyday objects that belonged to ordinary citizens alongside treasures associated with famous Edinburghers and significant historical events.
Highlights include the original National Covenant signed in Greyfriars Kirkyard in 1638, the collar and bowl belonging to Greyfriars Bobby (Edinburgh's most famous dog), fine examples of Edinburgh silver, pottery, and glass demonstrating the city's crafts traditions, and poignant objects documenting working-class life in Edinburgh's tenements and neighborhoods.
The museum explores Edinburgh's development from a small medieval town around the castle rock to a Georgian New Town, Victorian industrial center, and modern capital city.
Period room settings recreate domestic interiors from different eras, while shop reconstructions show Edinburgh's commercial heritage. The building itself is part of the experience - visitors navigate through narrow turnpike stairs, low doorways, and interconnected rooms that evoke historical Edinburgh's compact vertical living.
The museum's collections are particularly strong in Edinburgh-made decorative arts including the renowned Edinburgh silver, pottery from local manufactories, glass, and furniture.
Social history collections document how ordinary Edinburghers lived, worked, worshipped, and played across the centuries, preserving memories that might otherwise be lost. Recent community engagement projects have enriched collections with objects and stories from Edinburgh's diverse modern communities, ensuring the museum remains relevant to contemporary audiences.
Admission is free, making this remarkable resource accessible to all visitors wishing to understand Edinburgh's complex urban history.
The Museum of Edinburgh offers an intimate, detailed counterpoint to the grand historical narratives presented in Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum - here visitors discover the everyday realities, small dramas, and accumulated detail that constitute a city's real history over centuries.
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Plan Your Visit
⏱️ Recommended Visit Duration
📅 Best Times to Visit
Quietest: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
Busiest: Saturday, Sunday
💡 Weekday mornings (10:00-12:00) for quietest experience. Avoid August during Edinburgh Festival when Royal Mile is extremely busy.
💡 Visitor Tips
- The museum is located in a historic 16th-century building with narrow stairs, low doorways, and multiple levels. Visitors with mobility issues should note that full accessibility is not possible due to the building's historic nature. Ground floor galleries are accessible.
- Allow 1.5 to 2 hours for a thorough visit. The museum is compact but densely packed with objects and information. The building's labyrinthine layout means exploring all rooms requires navigating stairs and following the recommended route through interconnected spaces.
- Visit on weekday mornings for the quietest experience. The Royal Mile location means August during Edinburgh Festival brings enormous crowds to the area. January through June and September through November offer the best visiting conditions.
- Combine your visit with exploration of the Canongate and lower Royal Mile. The museum provides excellent context for understanding this historic area's development. Nearby Canongate Kirk burial ground contains graves of notable Scots including economist Adam Smith.
- Don't miss Greyfriars Bobby's collar and bowl - these are the museum's most popular objects. The National Covenant document is historically significant but requires some background knowledge to fully appreciate. Ask staff for information if interested in learning more.
- The museum shop offers books about Edinburgh history, locally made crafts, and souvenirs relating to Greyfriars Bobby and other Edinburgh themes. Proceeds support the museum's work preserving Edinburgh's heritage.
- Photography is permitted for personal use without flash. The historic building interiors, decorative arts objects, and Bobby memorabilia are popular photographic subjects. Be respectful of other visitors in the relatively small gallery spaces.
- The museum provides an excellent counterpoint to larger Edinburgh attractions. While Edinburgh Castle and the National Museum present broad national narratives, the Museum of Edinburgh focuses intimately on the capital city's specific character, neighborhoods, and everyday life across centuries.
Highlights
Greyfriars Bobby's Collar and Bowl
The most famous objects in the museum's collection are the collar and feeding bowl that belonged to Greyfriars Bobby, Edinburgh's legendary Skye Terrier who supposedly guarded his master's grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard for fourteen years after the man's death in 1858. Bobby became a Victorian celebrity, receiving the freedom of the city and having his own collar and drinking bowl.
Whether the sentimental Victorian story is entirely factual has been debated by historians, but Bobby's tale has become an enduring part of Edinburgh's folklore and identity.
The small leather collar and simple bowl evoke powerful emotions about loyalty, devotion, and the human-animal bond. Bobby's story has inspired books, films, and a statue that stands near Greyfriars Kirkyard, making him arguably Edinburgh's most famous canine citizen. These simple objects demonstrate museums' power to preserve not just material culture but the stories and myths that communities value and repeat across generations.
For many visitors, seeing Bobby's actual collar connects them tangibly to a beloved story heard in childhood or read about before visiting Edinburgh.
The National Covenant
This extraordinarily significant historical document, signed in Greyfriars Kirkyard on February 28, 1638, represents a pivotal moment in Scottish religious and political history when thousands of Scots pledged to resist King Charles I's attempts to impose Anglican worship on Presbyterian Scotland. The Covenant's signing initiated events that led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the English Civil War, and ultimately the execution of Charles I.
The document on display shows numerous signatures - nobles, ministers, burgesses, and ordinary citizens who literally signed their names to what they believed was a sacred contract with God to defend their religious principles.
Many Covenanters later faced persecution, imprisonment, and execution for their beliefs during the 'Killing Times' under Charles II. The Covenant represents Scotland's Presbyterian identity, traditions of resistance to perceived tyranny, and the intertwining of religion and politics that shaped Scottish history.
Seeing this actual document connects visitors directly to a moment when Edinburgh citizens made choices that reverberated through British and world history, demonstrating how local events can have national and international consequences.
Edinburgh Silver Collection
The museum holds an exceptional collection of Edinburgh silver spanning three centuries, demonstrating the city's importance as a center of silversmithing from the 17th through 19th centuries.
Edinburgh silversmiths created pieces of outstanding quality and distinctive design, often influenced by Continental European styles but adapted to Scottish tastes and uses. The collection includes communion plate from Edinburgh churches, domestic silver used in prosperous Edinburgh households, silver made for civic and institutional use, and decorative pieces showcasing silversmiths' technical virtuosity.
Hallmarks on each piece identify the maker and date, allowing silver to be precisely attributed and dated - creating a detailed record of Edinburgh's silversmithing traditions. Particularly notable are pieces by renowned makers such as the Lothian family and examples of 'thistle' design silver unique to Scotland.
The silver collection demonstrates Edinburgh's broader role as Scotland's capital city where wealth, taste, and skilled craftsmen converged to create objects of beauty and utility.
These gleaming objects also document social history - how Edinburgh's elite lived, entertained, worshipped, and displayed their status through material possessions.
Field Marshal Earl Haig Collection
Important collection of objects relating to Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, the Edinburgh-born military commander who led British forces on the Western Front during World War I. Haig remains one of history's most controversial military figures, praised by some as the commander who led Britain to victory in 1918 and condemned by others for the catastrophic casualties suffered during battles like the Somme and Passchendaele.
The collection includes Haig's military uniforms, medals, personal possessions, photographs, and documents that provide insight into this complex figure who shaped British military history.
After the war, Haig devoted himself to supporting veterans and founded the Poppy Appeal that continues today. The collection allows visitors to engage with debates about World War I leadership, military strategy, and the human cost of industrial warfare. Haig's Edinburgh connections - he was educated at Edinburgh schools and maintained lifelong ties to the city - make this collection particularly appropriate for the Museum of Edinburgh, demonstrating how local figures can play roles on the world stage.
Collections
The Museum of Edinburgh holds over 80,000 objects documenting Edinburgh's history from prehistoric times to the present day. The collections encompass archaeology from Roman and medieval Edinburgh, extensive social history materials documenting everyday life in the city across centuries, outstanding decorative arts including Edinburgh silver, pottery, glass, and furniture, civic and institutional collections, military history materials, photography documenting Edinburgh neighborhoods and events, and contemporary objects collected through community engagement projects.
Decorative arts holdings are particularly strong, featuring Edinburgh-made silver from the 17th through 19th centuries, pottery from Edinburgh manufactories including Portobello, glass from Edinburgh glassworks, and furniture demonstrating local craftsmanship.
Social history collections include objects from Edinburgh working-class life, shop fittings and commercial materials, objects related to Edinburgh trades and industries, and personal possessions donated by Edinburgh families. The Field Marshal Earl Haig collection provides military history context, while civic collections document Edinburgh's government and institutions.
Photography holdings preserve visual records of Edinburgh streets, buildings, and people across the late 19th and 20th centuries.
Recent collecting focuses on diverse contemporary Edinburgh communities, ensuring collections remain relevant and representative of the modern city's multicultural character.
Edinburgh Stories
Core displays presenting Edinburgh's development from earliest settlement through medieval burgh, Georgian New Town, Victorian industrial city, to modern capital. Uses objects, room settings, and interpretation to bring Edinburgh's urban history to life.
📍 Throughout building
Greyfriars Bobby and Edinburgh Characters
Display featuring Greyfriars Bobby's collar and bowl alongside objects relating to other notable Edinburgh characters and beloved local figures whose stories have become part of the city's folklore and identity.
📍 Ground Floor
Edinburgh Silver
Outstanding collection of Edinburgh-made silver from the 17th through 19th centuries, demonstrating the city's importance as a silversmithing center and the wealth and taste of Edinburgh's elite.
📍 Upper Floors
Working Edinburgh
Collections documenting Edinburgh's industries, trades, shops, and working-class life, preserving aspects of the city's economic and social history often overlooked in favor of Georgian elegance and intellectual achievements.
📍 Various floors
Themes
Time Periods
Current Exhibitions
No current exhibitions. Please check the museum website for updates.