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Situated in the centre of this busy tourist and market city, Inverness Museum and Art Gallery offers a welcome diversion to both visitors and locals alike. Explore our wide range of exhibits and take a more hands on approach in our brand new Discovery Centre!
Explore Scottish history and discover how the highlands are linked with the rest of the world. Have the opportunity to get face to face with a pine marten and scratch a badger's belly. Experience Highland contemporary art and crafts and unlock a medieval chest - or just have a cup of tea.
Come and visit this exciting and interactive museum in the historic centre of Inverness. Admission is free! Inverness Museum and Art Gallery is situated at the foot of the Castle hill.
Inverness' first museum was opened in 1826 by the 'Northern Institute for the promotion of Science and Literature'. Its collections were inherited by the current museum founded in 1880.
The museum reopened in 2007, following a major refurbishment for Highland 2007, with a range of new displays and visitor facilities.
The museum's collections cover the geology natural history and archaeology of the Highlands. Its strengths include Devonian fossil fishes, prehistoric archaeology, Pictish symbol stones, Jacobite memorabilia and Inverness silver.
Inverness Museum and Art Gallery exists to manage, preserve and enhance these collections and to make them available, through display, publication and study, to as wide an audience as possible.
Illustrated in the slide show to the right is a brooch is made of an old penny piece. It was made by a mechanic at RAF Lossiemouth to give as a gift to his favourite young lady. Katey, our Assistant Curator (Learning and Access), chose this object because she likes the idea of making something very romantic out of such an ordinary thing. She likes the creativity that led to the idea of making it and the thought of someone working in his precious spare time to make a special present for somebody.
The reserve collections, museum library and research facilities are open to the public by appointment.
Open Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 5 pm, ‘Cuach’ coffee shop and gift shop
