We all know the Scotland has some of Europe’s finest museums – from Dundee’s V&A to Glasgow’s Kelvingrove – but there are plenty of smaller, more esoteric, examples you may be less aware of.
Here are 12 of the odder – but always fascinating – museums Scotland has to offer.
5. The Hunterian
The University of Glasgow's museum dedicated to collector William Hunter is Scotland's oldest museum and contains a varied assortment of fascinating items, including paintings, a large coin collection, minerals, and a complete plesiosaur skeleton. Somewhat macabrely there is also a collection of gruesome surgical instruments and Hunter’s original 18th century anatomical and pathological specimens. Photo: JPI Media
6. The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum
Set in a 49-acre site, just north of Dunfermline in Fife, The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum houses over 100 buses of various vintages, alongside a trains, a horse tram, and other exhibits. It's planned to open the museum from June. Photo: The Scottish Vintage Bus Museum
7. The Museum of Piping
Located in Glasgow's National Piping Centre, the Museum of Piping is dedicated to three centuries of history behind Scotland's most famous musical instrument, including examples dating back to the 18th century. See a range of instruments, from Scotland and further afield. and even have a shot at playing a set of pipes yourself. Photo: Google Maps
8. Museum of Scottish Lighthouses
Contained within Kinnaird Head Castle where the first mainland lighthouse in Scotland was built in 1787, Fraserburgh's Museum of Scottish Lighthouses tells the story of the Northern Lighthouse Board, the engineers who built the lights and the keepers who tended them. Photo: Google Maps