Edinburgh · New Town
Scottish National Gallery
A neoclassical temple on the mound between the old and new towns, free since 1859
The Vaughan Turner watercolours, shown only in January when the daylight is weakest
William Playfair's temple sits on the ridge that divides Edinburgh's medieval half from its Georgian one, and has charged nothing since it opened in 1859. The collection is small enough to see properly in ninety minutes and good enough to justify a detour: Titian, Velázquez, Vermeer, Raeburn's skating minister and a Scottish collection that nobody else has.
Every January the gallery displays the Vaughan bequest of Turner watercolours, shown only in that month under the terms of the gift, because January light in Scotland is too weak to fade them.
The detail
Good to know
- Opened
- 1859, architect William Playfair
- Admission
- Free
- January only
- Turner watercolours, Vaughan bequest
- Highlight
- Raeburn, the Skating Minister
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