Edinburgh’s museums

5. Edinburgh’s museums.

In the field of arts, Edinburgh has a host of outstanding attractions for different tastes and interests. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery provides a unique visual history of Scotland, told through portraits of the figures who shaped it: royals and rebels, poets and philosophers, heroes and villains. All the portraits are of Scots, but not all are by Scots. The collection also holds works by great English, European and American masters. Since the Gallery first opened its doors, the collection has grown steadily to form a kaleidoscope of Scottish life and history. Among the most famous portraits are Mary, Queen of Scots, Ramsay’s portrait of philosopher David Hume, Nasmyth’s portrait of Robert Burns, and Raeburn’s Sir Walter Scott. In addition to paintings, it displays sculptures, miniatures, coins, medallions, drawings, watercolours and photographs.

The Royal Museum and the Museum of Scotland are two museums under one roof. The Royal Museum is Scotland’s premier museum and international treasure-house. It contains material from all over the world. A vast and varied range of objects are on display – from the endangered Giant Panda to working scale models of British steam engines. The Museum of Scotland tells the remarkable story of a remarkable country from the geological dawn of time to modern-day life in Scotland. The variety and richness of Scotland’s long and vibrant history, is brought to life by the fascinating stories each object and every gallery has to tell.

At the heart of the museum is the Kingdom of the Scots. This is the story of Scotland’s emergence as a distinctive nation able to take its place on the European stage. Here are the icons of Scotland’s past – objects connected with some of the most famous events and best-known figures in Scottish history, from the Declaration of Arbroath[14] to Mary, Queen of Scots.

Described as “the noisiest museum in the world”, the Museum of Childhood is a favourite with adults and children alike. It is a treasure house, full of objects telling of childhood, past and present. The museum has five public galleries. A list of their contents makes it sound like a magical department store. There are riding toys, push and pull toys, doll’s prams, yachts and boats, slot machines, a punch and judy, a nickelodeon, a carousel horse, dolls’ houses, toy animals, zoos, farms and circuses, trains, soldiers, optical toys, marionettes, soft toys, games and much, much more.

In addition, the museum features a time tunnel (with reconstructions of a school room, street scene, fancy dress party and nursery from the days of our grandparents) an activity area, and video presentations. The museum opened in 1955 was the first museum in the world to specialize in the history of childhood. It also helps to find out how children have been brought up, dressed and educated in decades gone by.

“The People’s Story” is a museum with a difference. As the name implies, it uses oral history, reminiscence, and written sources to tell the story of the lives, work and leisure of te ordinary people of Edinburgh, from the late 18^th century to the present day. The museum is filled with the sounds, sights and smells of the past – a prison cell, town crier, reform parade, cooper’s workshop, fishwife, servant at work, dressmaker, 1940s kitchen, a wash-house, pub and tea-room.

These reconstructions are complimented by displays of photographs, everyday objects and rare artifacts, such as the museum’s outstanding collections of trade union banners and friendly society regalia.

6. Where life is one long festival.

 

Edinburgh may be called the Athens of the North, but from mid-August to early September that’s probably because it’s hot, noisy and overpriced – and crawling with foreign students.

Over the next three weeks the population will double as half a million visitors invade Britain’s most majestic city.

If you are a theatre buff or a comedy fan, Edinburgh at Festival time[15] will be your idea of heaven. But the city is a centre for culture all year round.

In the run-up to Christmas there are hundreds of shows, including Noel Coward’s Relative Values at the King’s Theatre and the Anatomy Performance Company’s dance theatre at the Traverse. Romeo and Juliet is at the Traverse, Les Miserables at the Playhouse and The Recruiting Officer at the Lyceum. And outside Festival time, you’ll find it a lot easier to get tickets.

As for the visual arts, Edinburgh’s museums more than match any of the special exhibitions mounted during the Festival.

Most attractive is the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, in a stately home on the outskirts of the city. Here you can find unbeatable masterpieces created by Picasso, Matisse and Hockney.

If shopping is more your stile, Jenners[16], on Princes Street, is Edinburgh’s answer to Harrods. And the Scottish Gallery on George Street is a happy hunting ground for collectors of fine art. Edinburgh is full of good hotels but its dramatic sky-line is dominated by two enormous hostelries at either end of Princes Street. The Caledonian and the Balmoral (formerly the North British) were built by rival railway companies in the days when competing steam trains raced from London.

 You can also have a look at the Gothic monument to Sir Walter Scott, which stands in East Princes Street Gardens and was begun in 1840. It is rather high, and narrow staircase (a total of 287 steps in several stages) offers spectacular views of the city. Not far from the monument in Princes Street Gardens one can find the oldest Floral Clock in the world, built in 1903, consisting of about 25,000 flowers and plants.

Like all the best capitals, Edinburgh boasts cosmopolitan influences. Asian shopkeepers sell Samosas and Scotch (mutton) pies in the same thick Scots brogue, and the city is littered with Italian restaurants.

The city has three universities: the University of Edinburgh (1583), Herriot-Watt[17] (established in 1885; received university status in 1966) and Napier[18] University.

Edinburgh is also an industrial centre. Its industries include printing, publishing, banking, insurance, chemical manufacture, electronics, distilling, brewing.

 

Conclusion.

I.“Scottishness”.

Oh Scotia! My dear, my native soil! Robert Burns

Scotland is a country of great variety with its own unique character and strong tradition. Its cities offer a mixture of designer lifestyle and age old tradition, while the countryside ranges from Britain’s highest mountains and waterfalls to the most stunning gorges and glens.

Scotland’s national tradition is rather intense and much alive even now and is rather rare in the modern world. Scotland is part of Britain. But it is not England. The Scottishness is a real thing, not an imaginary feeling, kind of picturesque survival of the past. It is based on Scot’s law which is different from the English. Scotland has its own national heroes fought in endless battles against the English ( William Wallace, Sir John the Grahame , Robert Bruce and others).

1.'A wee dram'

Scots have their own national drink, and you need only ask for Scotch, and that’s quite enough, you get what you wanted. More than half of Scotland's malt whisky distilleries are in the Grampian Highlands, and thus a third of the world's malt whisky is distilled here. A combination of fertile agricultural land, a sheltered, wet climate and the unpolluted waters of the River Spey and its tributaries, combined with the obvious enthusiasm of the locals for the work (and the product!) mean it is an ideal place to produce malt whisky. Many distilleries are open to visitors, and often offer samples!

The Scots are fond of the following joke about scotch:

A young man arrives in a small village situated near Loch Ness. There he meets an old man and asks him:

-     When does the Loch Ness Monster usually appear?

-     Usually it appears after the third glass of Scotch, - answered the

man.

 

2.Scottish national dress.

There is also a distinctive national dress, the kilt. Strictly speaking it should be warn only by men; it is made of wool and looks like a pleated skirt. The kilt is a relic of the time when the clan system existed in the Highlands. But its origin is very ancient. The Celtic tribes who fought Ceasar wore kilts. When the Celts moved north up through Cornwall, and Wales, and Ireland, and eventually to Scotland, they brought the kilt with them. A thousand years ago, there was nothing specially Scottish about it. Now it has become the Highland’s national dress and is worn in many parts of Scotland. It is probably the best walking-dress yet invented by man: there is up to 5 metres of material in it; it is thickly pleated st the back and sides; it is warm, it is airly, leaves the legs free for climbing; it stands the rain for hours before it gets wet through; it hangs well above the mud and the wet grass; briefly it is warm for a cold day, and cool for a warm one. And, what is more, if a Highlander is caught in the mountains by the night, he has but to unfasten his kilt and wrap it around him – 5 metres of warm wool – he’ll sleep comfortably enough the night through.

3.A few words about tartan.

Every Scottish clan had its own tartan.[19] People in Highlands were very good weavers. They died their wool before weaving it; the dyes were made from various roots and plants which grew in this or that bit of land. Therefore one clan dyed its wool in reddish colours, another in green, and so on. And they decorated them differently so as to distinguish the clansmen in battle (especially between neighboring clans which happened rather often).

On the subject of shopping for tartan, the choice is wide. Some designs are associated with particular clans and retailers will be happy to help you find “your” own pattern. By no means all tartans belong to specific clans – several are “district” tartans, representing particular areas. The fascinating story of the tartan itself is told at the Museum of Scottish Tartans.

The museum possesses lots of rare exhibits. One of them is the remarkable woman’s Plaid or Arisaid, the oldest dated in the world: 1726. The Arisaid, worn only by women, reached from head to heels, belted at the waist and pinned at the breast.

The oldest piece of Tartan found in Scotland dates back from about 325 AD. The cloth was found in a pot near Falkirk[20], a simple check in two shades of brown, a long way from the checked and coloured tartans that came to be worn in the Highlands of Scotland in the 1550s. There are now over 2,500 tartan designs, many of them are no more than 20 years old.

4.The national musical instrument of the Scots.

Scotland has its own typical musical instrument, the pipes (sometimes called the bagpipes). The bagpipe was known to the ancient civilizations of the Near East. It was probably introduced into Britain by the Romans. Carvings of bagpipe players on churches and a few words about them in the works of Chaucer and other writers show that it was popular all over the country in the Middle Ages.

In Scotland the bagpipe was first recorded in the 16^th century during the reign of James I, who was a very good player, and probably did much to make it popular. For long it has been considered a national Scottish instrument. Even now it is still associated with Scotland.

The sound of the bagpipes is very stirring. The old Highland clans and later the Highland regiments used to go into battle to the sound of the bagpipes.

The bagpipe consists of a reed pipe, the “chanter”, and a wind bag which provides a regular supply of air to the pipe. The wind pipe is filled either from the mouth or by a bellows which the player works with his arm. The chanter has a number of holes or keys by means of which the tune is played.

5.Highland’s dances and games.

You can also find in Scotland its own national dances, Highland dances and Scottish country dances; its own songs (some of which are very popular all aver Britain), its poetry (some of which is famous throughout the English-speaking world), traditions, food and sports, even education, and manners.

Speaking about sports I can’t but mention Highland Gatherings or Games held in Braemar. They have been held there since 1832, and since Queen Victoria visited them in 1848 the games have enjoyed royal patronage. The Games consist of piping competitions, tugs-of-war (a test of strength in which two teams pull against other on a rope, each trying to pull the other over the winning line), highland wrestling and dancing, and tossing the caber.[21]

6.The famous Loch Ness.

 

Fact or fiction, the Loch Ness monster is part of Loch Ness’s magnetic appeal to visitors. But there is much more to do and see around the shores of this famous waterway than just monster-spotting, and a pleasant day, or even longer, can be spent exploring the many activities. 24 miles long, a mile wide and up to 700 feet deep Loch Ness is a land-locked fresh water lake lying at the eastern end of the Great Glen[22], a natural geological fault which stretches across the width of Scotland. The loch forms part of the Caledonian Canal completed by the celebrated civil engineer Thomas Telford (1757 – 1841), in 1822. Telford took 19 years to build the canal, which spared coastal shipping and fishing vessels a voyage through the waters of the Pentland Firth[23].

The story of Nessiterras Rhombopteryx or Nessie for short in Loch Ness has persistent down the centuries. The monster was first mentioned in AD 565 when St Columba allegedly persuaded it not to eat someone. Since records began, in 1933, more than 3000 people have claimed to have seen it, but others are skeptical. They point out that no good photographs exist of the monster, that there have been no eggs found, no dead monsters (can it really be 2563 years old?) nor any other compelling evidence. Believers think the monster is a plesiosaur, an otherwise extinct sea-dwelling reptile. Anyone who did prove conclusively the monster's existence would be hailed as a pioneer, so it is no surprise to learn that monster-spotting is a popular pastime!

The Official Loch Ness Monster Centre is opened all year round and has exhibits showing geology, prehistory and history of Scotland, along with SONAR records and underwater photography relating to the monster.

The Original Visitor Centre offers a half hour video of the monster detailing the research that has taken place, along with a video about Bonnie Prince Charlie.

The loch has been surveyed for decades, by the RAF[24], eminent scientists, cranks, crackpots, mini-submarines and millions of pounds worth of high technology, including NASA[25] computers. And still there is no proof…