National Museum of Scotland open to public again

The National Museum of Scotland opens its doors today after completing a three-year, £47m makeover.

Among more than 8,000 objects displayed for the first time across 16 new galleries are a life-size cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummies and an exotic bird stuffed by Charles Darwin himself.

The project to revamp completely the museum, on Chambers Street in Edinburgh's Old Town, was jointly funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Scottish government and private donors.

Former storage spaces have been converted into grand public galleries. Exhibits stretch across two former museum buildings which have been joined up for the first time. The building of the former Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art will house objects obtained by Scotland's great explorers and scientists, while the neighbouring section will display items charting Scotland's own national heritage.

In total 26,000 objects will be on show across 36 galleries, making the museum one of the UK's largest.