A collections research, access and storage facility has been opened at the National Museums Collection Centre in Granton, Edinburgh by Fiona Hyslop, the culture secretary.

 

The new building, which houses nearly ten million objects, will enable material from National Museums Scotland's Scottish History, Archaeology and Natural Sciences collections to be preserved in "optimal conditions".

Nearly ten million objects been moved to the facility from other stores.

They range in size from a beetle measuring less than a millimetre (the Nephanes Titan beetle), to the 5.2 metre-long skull of a sperm whale.

The oldest object is a 4.5 billion year-old meteorite, the heaviest a Roman tombstone found at Carberry, East Lothian in the late 1990s which weighs over 360 kilograms.

The new three storey building, is fifty foot high and covers 6,000 square metres.

Ms Hylsop said: "It's great to view first-hand the excellent facilities now available at the National Museum Collections Centre.

"The Scottish Government has provided nearly £12 million of funding for this project, which underpins the continual development of public facing facilities at Chambers Street.

"This state of the art behind the scenes centre will allow National Museums Scotland to preserve its valuable collections for the future and provide world class facilities for researchers."

Bruce Minto, chair of the Board of Trustees of National Museums Scotland said: "It is extremely important that the collections which are not on public display but which have enormous significance, particularly to researchers across a huge range of disciplines and countries, are kept in such a way that assures their good condition in perpetuity and which is properly organised and accessible.

"This new building is an important step on the way to achieving that goal for all of the national collections."

The new building and associated object moves have enabled National Museums Scotland to withdraw from both Leith Customs House and a facility at Port Edgar underneath the location of the new Forth Crossing.

Neither of these locations were "fit for purpose in terms of conservation, or access to the material they contained" a statement said.

The National Museum Collections Centre site on the north of Edinburgh also houses science and technology, world cultures, fashion and textiles, decorative art and design and transport collections, as well as conservation and research laboratories.

It is open to researchers around the world by appointment, and the new building will be open to visitors on Doors Open Day this year.

The West Granton site was bought in 1944 by the Ministry of Labour to establish a training centre for ex-servicemen to learn building and trades skills.

The site was gradually developed over the next few years.

In 1974 the National Museums of Antiquities in Scotland obtained occupation of the first building on the site and gradually between 1974 and 1985 the occupation grew to contain thirteen buildings.

The site was permanently acquired by National Museums Scotland in 1992 and has been the subject of ongoing improvement since.