The McManus Art Gallery and Museum, Dundee, Scotland

Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery

McManus Galleries

LoginSave

Housed in a solid Victorian Gothic building designed by Gilbert Scott in 1867, the McManus Galleries are a city museum on a human scale – you can see everything there is to see in a single visit, without feeling rushed or overwhelmed. The exhibits cover the history of the city from the Iron Age to the present day, including relics of the Tay Bridge Disaster and the Dundee whaling industry.

Computer geeks will enjoy the Sinclair ZX81 and Spectrum (pioneering personal computers with a whole 16Kb of memory!) which were made in Dundee in the early 1980s.

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • Scone Palace, traditional place of coronation for Scottish kings, Scone, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

    Scone Palace

    18.1 MILES

    'So thanks to all at once and to each one, whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone.' This line from Macbeth indicates the importance of Scone …

  • Dundee, Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe

    Discovery Point

    0.42 MILES

    The three masts of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's famous polar expedition vessel the RRS Discovery provide a historic counterpoint to the modern…

  • View of the new V&A Museum at Discovery Point in Dundee, Tayside, Scotland, United Kingdom.

    V&A Dundee

    0.39 MILES

    The centrepiece of Dundee's revitalised waterfront is this stunning building designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Opened in late 2018, it houses an…

  • Verdant Works

    Verdant Works

    0.45 MILES

    One of the fi­nest industrial museums in Europe, the Verdant Works explores the history of Dundee's jute industry. Housed in a restored jute mill,…

  • Lindores Abbey Distillery

    Lindores Abbey Distillery

    12.41 MILES

    Of the many new distilleries popping up all over Scotland, this one – opened in 2017 – has a unique historical claim. It's a stunning modern building …

  • Close up image on a summers day of Glamis castle, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. 1772299841 aberdeen, aberdeenshire, attraction, brochure, building, castle, castles of scotland, destination, dream castles, europe, fairytale castle, glamis, glamis castle, glamis castle scotland, grass, historic, historical, holiday, image, kingdom, landmark, landscape, landscapes, lawn, location, medieval, palace, photo, postcard, scotland, scotlands castles, scotlands landscape, scottish, summer, tourism, tower, travel, travel photography, vacation, wanderlust

    Glamis Castle

    10.97 MILES

    Looking every inch the Scottish Baronial castle, with its roofline sprouting a forest of pointed turrets and battlements, Glamis Castle claims to be the…

  • Historic Falkland Palace and village with landscaped gardens on a sunny summer day in Fife, Scotland, UK. 1502567466

    Falkland Palace

    17.05 MILES

    Falkland Palace, a 16th-century country residence of the Stuart monarchs, is prettier and in many ways more impressive and interesting than the Palace of…

  • Aberlemno Pictish Stone in Scotland 1124293226 aberlemno, ancient, angus, archeology, art, britain, british, building, carved, celtic, church, culture, design, detail, exterior, heritage, historic, history, incised, landmark, landscape, medieval, monument, mystic, old, outdoor, pattern, pict, pictish, pictish stone, religion, roadside cross, rock, ruin, sandstone, scotland, scottish, sculpture, sky, standing, statue, stone, surface, symbol, texture, tourism, traditional, travel, uk, weathered

    Aberlemno Stones

    17.49 MILES

    The mysterious Aberlemno stones are among Scotland's finest Pictish carved stones. By the roadside there are three 7th- to 9th-century slabs with various…

View more attractions

Nearby attractions

1. City Square

0.16 MILES

The heart of Dundee is City Sq, flanked to the south by the 1930s facade of Caird Hall, which was gifted to the city by a textile magnate and is now home…

2. St Mary's Church

0.21 MILES

Pedestrianised High St leads west into Nethergate, flanked to the north by St Mary's Church. Most of the church dates from the 19th century, but the Old…

3. Dundee Contemporary Arts

0.37 MILES

Pioneering the development of the city's Cultural Quarter from its opening in 1999, Dundee Contemporary Arts is a centre for modern art, design and cinema…

4. V&A Dundee

0.39 MILES

The centrepiece of Dundee's revitalised waterfront is this stunning building designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma. Opened in late 2018, it houses an…

5. Discovery Point

0.42 MILES

The three masts of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's famous polar expedition vessel the RRS Discovery provide a historic counterpoint to the modern…

6. Verdant Works

0.45 MILES

One of the fi­nest industrial museums in Europe, the Verdant Works explores the history of Dundee's jute industry. Housed in a restored jute mill,…

7. HMS Unicorn

0.49 MILES

Dundee's second floating tourist attraction – unlike the polished and much-restored RRS Discovery – retains the authentic atmosphere of a salty old…

8. Dundee Law

0.83 MILES

It's worth making the climb up Dundee Law (174m) for great views of the city, the two Tay bridges and across to Fife. The Tay Rail Bridge – at just over 2…