Museums Open Again

Although lockdown was an adventure in itself and opened up new avenues of interest, there's no getting away from the fact that it did prevent us from doing some of our favourite things. I've loved visiting museums ever since I was a small child on school trips. Pushing buttons to make machinery turn in the engineering gallery of the Royal Museum in Edinburgh got me hooked. I long ago lost count of the number of times I've visited the place, now simply entitled the Museum of Scotland following the major extension project of the late 90s. As a trainee teacher at nearby Moray House College, I would often disappear within the cavernous gallery space if I found myself with free time on my hands. Even a quick visit to marvel at the glass-roofed Victorian entrance hall is well worth the effort to climb the steps and go through the revolving doors. Except you now enter at street level. Showing my age here. In the silver medal slot is the Scottish National Portrait Gallery on Queen Street.

Like its big cousin in the Old Town, the Portrait Gallery offers free general admission. It also features stunning examples of interior architecture and the large red sandstone building stands proudly on a wide Georgian thoroughfare. Opened in 1889, the exhibition areas feature paintings of famous Scots, although the artists are not necessarily from here. The great hall is located in the centre of the building and the arcaded pointed arches immediately catch the eye. Statues and busts of historic figures are unobtrusively on display. Around the first-floor balustrade, a processional frieze against a rippled gold backdrop depicts 155 historical figures. They march around the hall in reverse chronological order, from the nineteenth century through to Stone Age man. The line-up includes royalty, military, religious and political icons as well as explorers, inventors, poets and artists. The sequence begins with the author and historian Thomas Carlyle, who played a significant role in the establishment of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. I was waiting outside for the doors to open as I'd booked a time slot for 10am. I had a busy day planned as it was the Doors Open weekend for the City of Edinburgh. The gallery visit wasn't part of this itinerary but I wanted to spend a couple of hours here before moving on to my planned schedule of old graveyards and churches. I've been to the Portrait Gallery several times over the years but there had been a long delay enforced by Covid. I headed upstairs and began browsing a display entitled The Modern Portrait. Showcasing people from 20th-century Scottish life, the artwork was a mix of traditional paintings and photographs. There were household names such as Billy Connolly (painted by the indefatigable John Byrne), Alan Cumming and Annie Lennox, but also more unheralded Scots like the team of three doctors who made a major breakthrough in cancer research. As I could readily relate to the timeframe of the exhibition, I took the time to read most of the notes beside the pictures to find out a little more about the subjects. It was still early and there was ample room to explore. I've never really considered myself a connoisseur of art but I normally find a few pieces that leap out from the wall and draw me in for a closer inspection. On such example today was a large scale canvas of Caledonian Airways supremo Sir Adam Thomson (1926-2000). The image shows him standing inside a large hangar while dozens of tasks are being undertaken in the background. The minute attention to detail is incredible and you could easily return to this painting (as I did twice) and spot elements that had eluded you last time around. I certainly didn't notice the guy eating his lunch up in the rafters upon first glance. Your gaze is pulled all over the place as you attempt to digest the scene. Maybe that's why Sir Adam is depicted in a somewhat distracted pose. He occupies the most space by far but he's not meant to be the absolute centre of attention. He's the leader but the workers beavering away in the distance are vital to the success of the whole operation. If anyone says they find it difficult to appreciate artwork, all I can say is cop a load of this!

Adam Thomson came from a flying background, working as a pilot and instructor before founding British Caledonian Airways in 1961. The company became the main private challenger to state monolith British Airways and Adam served as chief executive and chairman. The cabin crew were famously decked out in tartan. The 1980s saw many nationalised industries sold off to the public and British Airways was floated on the Stock Exchange in 1987. Almost immediately, the new private enterprise bought British Caledonian - lock, stock and barrel, a deal that no doubt netted Sir Adam a few shekels. In truth, he was probably relieved to offload the operation as a highly successful early 80s period had started to turn sour following a series of international political incidents outwith the control of the airline. The takeover allowed British Airways to buy off the main competition before it had the opportunity to stage a recovery and a rosy future in the free market for the former state carrier seemed assured. Well that was the theory. In reality, long-distance international aviation is a tough environment but an old warhorse like BA could give as good as they got. What nobody really saw coming was the rise of budget airlines like Easyjet and Ryanair in the late 90s which - aided in no small part by the growing ubiquity of the internet - began to take a huge share of short-to-medium flight traffic. It transpired that passengers are quite prepared to put up with no-frills conditions for a couple of hours in the air if this results in a bargain price. Personally I've almost exclusively used the cheapo airlines for travelling around Europe over the past 20 years. I've perfected the art of rolling up clothing tightly and squeezing it into a cabin-sized rucksack. The aviation industry is so tightly regulated you know there's no safety compromise to worry about. Yes, the likes of Easyjet sometimes use airports off the beaten track but there are usually delights in these areas waiting to be discovered. From an environmental point of view, the whole thing is quite insane. It's often substantially cheaper to fly than take a train or ferry, not to mention quicker. There's no way we'll see a mass switch of transportation modes under that pricing model. Yet it would take a brave Chancellor of the Exchequer to announce a big tax rise on aviation fuel. And so the cycle continues. Blah, blah, blah, as Greta Thunberg would say. Adam Thomson died aged 73, having come a long way from his working-class upbringing in a Glasgow tenement. He had trained as a pilot with the Fleet Air Arm during the latter stages of WW2. It got me thinking about how conflict on this scale - while never desirable - is full of irony and absurdity, as well as a great enforcer of (long overdue) social change. Many young men would have readily been given opportunities that were difficult to attain under normal circumstances. Adam Thomson then went on to enjoy considerable success in peacetime, but could he have achieved the same things without the war prising the door open?

Another portrait that caught my eye was Lord MacKay of Clashfern. I liked the use of colour and brightness in this particular image. James MacKay was born in 1927 and is still with us at the time of writing. In a similar manner to Adam Thomson, MacKay was the son of a railwayman and rose to the pinnacle of his profession. Hailing from Scourie, Sutherland, he won a scholarship to George Heriot's School in the capital city and went on to secure a first-class degree in mathematics and physics at Edinburgh University. After a two-year stint lecturing in maths, he embarked upon a law degree at Cambridge University and rose rapidly within the legal profession. He became a Queen's Counsel in 1965 and by the time the 80s rolled round, he had been appointed Lord Advocate, the senior law official in Scotland. A life peerage as Baron MacKay of Clashfern followed and he also served as Lord Chancellor under the Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major. Quite the legal eagle then! I worked my way through the other parts of the museum and was struck by paintings of Andrew Carnegie, a young Queen Victoria, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and Sir Walter Scott. The temporary photography exhibition - The World's Edge - examined the extreme geographical points of the various continents surrounding the Atlantic Ocean and the journeys undertaken by photographer Thomas Joshua Cooper to reach these outposts. Anything to do with mapping appeals greatly to me. I also enjoyed the exhibition relating to the execution of King Charles I and the gallery showing all the Jacobean imagery. A very fulfilling two hours and I stumbled out into the daylight afterwards to start my Doors Open Day exploration. I wrote a letter to the Portrait Gallery the following week and received a lovely reply - something by no means certain in the digital age. I shall of course make a return visit in a year or two. On a separate weekend, I headed over to the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street. The main reason was to view the Galloway Hoard - the richest collection of rare and unique Viking objects ever found in Britain or Ireland. Some of the treasure comes from remote kingdoms in Asia and the haul transports us back to a critical moment in history; the formation of the political entities we now know as Scotland, England and Ireland. The exhibition was running for a few months in Edinburgh and I wanted to see it before it departed for Kirkcudbrightshire, the county where the hoard was found. It was discovered in 2014 by a member of the public with a metal detector and allocated to the National Museum Collection three years later. Among the hundred-plus items are a silver pendant cross, a unique bird-shaped gold pin, a decorated silver vessel, two examples of an entirely new type of cross-shaped brooch, unique multi-hinge straps and a gold-mounted rock-crystal flask contained in a silk-lined pouch. The phrase "finders keepers" has no real basis in law but I wonder if the person who unearthed this fascinating treasure trove received a percentage of the value?

Before hitting the museum I wandered through St Cuthbert's Churchyard and into Princes Street Gardens, passing the impressive Ross Fountain. Having strolled through the centre of Edinburgh countless times since I was a small child, it's easy to take for granted the tranquillity of this green space, sitting in a valley adjacent to the main shopping stretch. Things are changing here too though, with Princes Street no longer the retail powerhouse it once was. Several well-known names have disappeared from the frontages over the last decade and there are even empty units, particularly at the western end. Poundland now has a presence on our premier High Street. Whatever next? Puff Daddy Vape? It was a beautiful day. Summer hadn't quite ended and green was the dominant colour. I took the time to appreciate the views of the castle perched high above and the National Galley down at grass level. It's no wonder tourists flock from across the globe to the Athens of the North. It was my first post-Covid visit to the National Museum and it felt fantastic to once again set foot in the great hall, flooded with natural light. The original building was opened in 1866 as the Edinburgh Museum of Science & Art. From 1904 to 2006, it was known as the Royal Museum of Scotland and the hugely diverse collection encompasses science, technology, natural history, cosmology and world cultures. As the 21st century approached, a new building was constructed alongside the Royal Museum and opened to the public in 1998. Named the Museum of Scotland, it connected internally to the Royal and I visited within the first couple of weeks. As the name suggests, the collection is exclusively centred around Scotland as opposed to the worldwide scope of the Royal Museum. Absolutely nothing wrong with the displays but I've always regarded the surroundings as pretty drab compared to what's on offer next door. The roof terrace is a nice touch though and offers a fantastic vista of the city. I can't comment on the Tower Restaurant as the prices have always scared me away! The two museums were formally united in 2006 as the National Museum of Scotland and I'm perfectly happy with that arrangement. There is often a £10 entry charge for the travelling exhibitions but today was free, presumably because the Galloway Hoard already belongs to the museum. I took the escalator up to the gallery and made my way inside.

Business was brisk but there was ample room to move around freely and inspect the displays without feeling any pressure to quickly move on to the next. As is often the case, the lighting was subdued and this can make photography difficult as blurring can occur. I managed to take a few decent shots and there were no signs forbidding this activity. The intention of the dimness was no doubt to create an atmosphere rather than be a requirement for protecting fragile artefacts. They were chunks of solid metal after all! The lidded vessel that contained many of the individual hoard items was estimated to date from the 6th century to the 8th. The surface was engraved with great detail but only a 3D-printed scale model was available to view. The original silver pot was being kept in storage under carefully controlled temperatures to prevent any further decay of the textiles that swathed this remarkable object. Analysis of the decoration suggests the vessel originates from Central Asia as it is markedly different from the two other similar finds of known European heritage. We tend to think of the Vikings as seafarers who landed at coastal locations. They are less associated with places like inland Russia. However, their longboats would certainly have been capable of navigating the major European rivers towards Asia. The lid sealing the vessel helped to create unusual conditions for leather and textile preservation. These materials are of huge value to archaeologists because they rarely survive and, unlike gold or silver, can be scientifically analysed using techniques such as radiocarbon dating. A real glimpse into the far past but one that poses many more questions than it answers. Better to have a peek though, than remain blind. It was definitely a worthwhile expedition to come and see the Galloway Hoard. These special exhibitions don't always live up to expectations but I could have no complaints today. Full marks to the museum organisation for taking the treasures down to the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright so the local people can view what was found on their own patch. I spent a couple of hours exploring other parts of the vast museum complex, sticking to the quieter areas. The dedicated bird gallery was dismantled during a renovation period around a decade ago. A few specimens remain the general Natural History section which has been given a family-friendly makeover. Dare I say it strays into the realms of superficiality? I fully agree with the decision to remove the endless dusty glass cases of insects, ditto rocks and minerals, but you do have to walk the thin line between presenting serious information and creating a display the bulk of the public will actually want to look at. Not easy. Can I have my old animals and birds back please? Even if the stuffing was starting to hang out of their Victorian behinds. The café was unfeasibly busy so I headed to trusty old Piemaker for a pit stop before setting out on a wander through the Meadows.

I was building a walk for the website incorporating the two major green spaces in central Edinburgh. Consisting of open grassland criss-crossed by tree-lined paths, the Meadows are always buzzing on a nice day. Historically common ground - although, thankfully, cattle is no longer grazed upon it - the parkland is protected by local bye laws which prohibit major building works. A temporary exception was granted in 1886 when Edinburgh staged the International Exhibition of Science, Industry and Art. A sensational spectacle in true Victorian tradition, an imposing domed grand hall was erected along with numerous other grand buildings. It was opened by Prince Albert Victor - eldest son of the heir to the throne and grandson of Queen Victoria. Albert never fulfilled his destiny as king, dying from pneumonia aged just 28. Visiting these world-fair exhibitions gave the public a taste of the exotic and a look into the exciting new technologies of the future. Highlights included an Old Edinburgh street reconstruction and a Women's Industries display. No doubt there was something for everyone but perhaps the biggest novelty was the use of 3000 electric lamps to illuminate the site when dusk fell. This was by far the most powerful artificial lighting project ever attempted in Scotland and the technology itself was still in its infancy. The Meadows were restored to green fields after the exhibition ended but one or two traces of the event remain. A massive whale jaw-bone spans the footpath bearing its name and in a far corner among a clump of trees stands a commemorative pillar with a sundial on top. Designed by Sir James Gowans, it marked the opening of the exhibition. Thankfully something survives from what must have been an absolute extravaganza. I wonder how many people even know about it today.