Treasures of the National Library of Scotland

Treasures of the National Library of Scotland is the permanent exhibition at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge, and it's a good one to keep in your back pocket for a rainy afternoon in the city. It opened on 25 March 2022 as the Library's first on-site display after the pandemic lockdowns, and it was built as a five-year show with exhibits that rotate regularly to protect the collections. That means if you visit once, you'll likely see something different when you go back.

The range on display is what makes it. It goes from early printed books and medieval manuscripts to moving image, maps and modern ephemera, and the whole thing is meant to show how the Library collects and preserves the memory of the nation on behalf of the people of Scotland. Among the national treasures are a 15th-century Gutenberg Bible — one of only 48 known to exist — a handwritten letter by Robert Burns, a letter by Charles Darwin, the Iona Psalter and the Pont map. Beside those, you'll find 1890s shopping catalogues and later media like floppy disks, SD cards and CD-ROMs. It's a broad sweep of Scottish life and writing, from the medieval to the digital.

If you're into maps, the Library also runs a Maps Reading Room at Causewayside in Edinburgh, and there's a Kelvin Hall venue in Glasgow where you can watch films from its Moving Image Archive. Both are separate from the main exhibition, so if you've got the time, you can make a proper day of it across the city.

Entry is free, and the exhibition is open Monday to Saturday from 9:30am to 7pm, closed on Sundays. You'll find it at the National Library of Scotland, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EW.