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Lensmark

Your AI tour guide for the National Museum of Scotland

Photograph a work in the National Museum of Scotland and Lensmark tells you who made it, when, and why it matters, with every fact linked to its source.

Your tour guide, today

Week Pass $5.99 USD Seven days, 50 identifications. One payment, and it does not renew. A Lensmark account is required to complete checkout. Lensmark's Week Pass is separate from National Museum of Scotland admission and museum services. Download on the App Store

National Museum of Scotland

Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Lensmark is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by National Museum of Scotland.

Privacy

Take a photo and read the work's sourced story

Illustrative photo demo

Illustrative collection

  1. Take a permitted photo Use a photo allowed by the museum's current rules.
  2. Read the sourced history When Lensmark can verify the work, it explains what the sources support and links to them. When it cannot, it says so plainly.
  3. Ask a follow-up Continue with a question about the work's maker, age or significance.
  4. Your National Museum of Scotland walk saves itself. Just take pictures. Each work is kept with its sourced history, grouped by day.

The illustrative photo demo uses The Creation of Adam, a class example outside this museum. The collection rows also use class examples.

What the National Museum of Scotland collection covers

The National Museum of Scotland brings Scottish history and archaeology together with art, design, fashion and world cultures in Edinburgh. Its galleries also explore natural history, science and technology. Galleries

The Monymusk Reliquary and Lewis chess pieces connect carved and decorated objects to medieval life. Dolly’s preserved remains tell a different story, about the scientific work that made cloning from an adult cell possible.

Its collection strengths include Scottish history and archaeology, art, design and fashion, world cultures, and science and technology.

  • The Monymusk Reliquary

    Maker unknown

    Date
    may date to the 10th to 12th centuries

    This portable shrine was made to keep holy remains secure. Its maker and original contents are unknown, and museum research suggests the surviving object was reworked from older components.

    Read the museum record

  • Lewis chess pieces

    Unknown medieval makers, probably Norway

    Date
    late 12th or early 13th century

    These eleven medieval pieces came from the hoard found on Lewis. The museum acquired its group in 1888, and identifies two of its pieces as carved from sperm-whale teeth.

    Read the museum record

  • Dolly the sheep

    Taxidermist not recorded

    Dolly was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Born on 5 July 1996, she was later preserved as museum specimen Z.2003.40 and donated by the Roslin Institute.

    Read the museum record

These are collection records, not confirmation that the works are on display today.

Check the photography rules first

National Museums Scotland welcomes photography, including flash, in the general museum, prohibits photography in special exhibitions unless otherwise stated, and asks visitors to obtain permission before photographing museum staff. Read its current visitor conditions and follow gallery signs before taking a photo. National Museum of Scotland photography policy

Lensmark needs a connection to answer, so check your signal or any visitor Wi-Fi before you photograph a work.

Lensmark can explain National Museum of Scotland works. Let us be your AI tour guide today.

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