How many objects do you think are kept in the National Museums Scotland collection? 10,000? 100,000? 1,000,000? Guess again…
Over the last few months, more than 10 million objects have journeyed across Edinburgh to their new home in Building 17 at the National Museums Collection Centre. We’ve re-homed a Nephanes Titan beetle measuring less than a millimetre and found space for the 5.2 metre-long skull of a sperm whale. This brand new storage facility also houses the oldest object to arrive at Granton – a 4.5 billion year-old meteorite – as well as the heaviest: a Roman tombstone found in East Lothian which weighs more than 360 kilograms.
Storing so many objects, none the same as the one before, means space – and lots of it. Our new three storey building, funded by the Scottish Government, stands nearly 15 metres tall and has a floor area of approximately 6,000 square metres. That’s a lot of Nephanes beetles. So when we welcomed Fiona Hyslop MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Europe, Culture and External Affairs to unveil Building 17 on a dreich Edinburgh morning, we thought it only fair to give you a sneak peek of life behind-the-scenes.
But it’s not just a tale of more storage space. Our conservators here at National Museums Scotland work every day to protect an international trove of treasures; this new building will aid their work. It may sound like a small detail, but dedicated work benches with data and power points in each storage area mean objects can be set out safely for research and examination. The most vulnerable objects in our collections are stored in areas with dedicated environments. Even the long process of sorting and ordering objects before the move from Leith and Port Edgar was helpful! Now they’re both better organised and more accessible.
Only a few buildings over, our conservation experts are also working on some 3,000 items going on display in ten new galleries at the National Museum of Scotland next summer. From a 1.5 tonne copper cavity from CERN to a Jazz Age dress, an entire wall from the famous Hamilton Palace to a very regal 18th century porcelain lion, the walls of the National Museums Collection Centre have truly seen it all.
Our new conservation building will be open to visitors on Doors Open Day 2015 – keep an eye on the website for more details.