Museum of Edinburgh


You can't miss the colourful facade of Huntly House, brightly painted in red and yellow ochre, opposite the Tolbooth clock on the Royal Mile. Built in 1570, it houses a museum covering Edinburgh from prehistory to the present. Exhibits of national importance include an original copy of the National Covenant of 1638, but the big crowd pleaser is the dog collar and feeding bowl that once belonged to Greyfriars Bobby, the city's most famous canine citizen.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. People's Story

0.01 MILES

One of the surviving symbols of the Canongate district's former independence is the Canongate Tolbooth. Built in 1591, it served successively as a…

2. Canongate Kirkyard

0.03 MILES

The attractive curved gable of the Canongate Kirk, built in 1688, overlooks a kirkyard that contains the graves of several famous people, including…

3. Dunbar’s Close Garden

0.05 MILES

Tucked away at the end of an Old Town close, this walled garden has been laid out in the style of the 17th century, with gravel paths, neatly trimmed…

4. Scottish Poetry Library

0.06 MILES

A fantastic literary resource housed in award-winning modern architecture off Canongate, the poetry library hosts regular exhibitions and is a source of…

5. Burns Monument

0.15 MILES

The neoclassical Burns Monument (1830), a Greek-style memorial to Scotland's national poet Robert Burns, stands on the southern flank of Calton Hill. It…

6. Our Dynamic Earth

0.2 MILES

Housed in a modernistic white marquee, Our Dynamic Earth is an interactive, multimedia journey of discovery through Earth's history from the Big Bang to…

7. Scottish Parliament Building

0.21 MILES

The Scottish Parliament Building, on the site of a former brewery and designed by Catalan architect Enric Miralles (1955–2000), was opened by the Queen in…

8. John Knox House

0.21 MILES

The Royal Mile narrows at the foot of High St beside the jutting facade of John Knox House. This is the oldest surviving tenement in Edinburgh, dating…