A day out at the museum

AS Autumn brings the rain and wind indoors is the place to be and where better that the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, where a true treasure trove of wonders waits to be discovered.

National Museum of Scotland Model Built from LEGO

Right now you can travel back in time to the Stone Age to discover Jade from the Alps, in the Grand Gallery on Level 1.

The small display showcases the museum’s rarely seen collection of Stone Age jade axe heads, alongside Tim Pomeroy’s contemporary sculpture, Axe head.

These rare and exquisite objects found around the Scottish countryside have long puzzled archaeologists.

Dr Alison Sheridan with Stone Age axeheads. Pic: Phil Wilkinson.

How did these Neolithic axe heads end up in Scotland, so far from their origins in the North Italian Alps around 6,000 years ago?

Now, thanks to a French-led project involving National Museums Scotland – Projet Jade – the fascinating story of their creation, use and astonishing 1,500km journey can be revealed.

Meanwhile, Info Zone on Level 3 is the place to be if you are a fan of Lego, there you will find Build It! A museum made from Lego, featuring a three-metre Lego model of the National Museum of Scotland.

Renowned brick artist Warren Elsmore and his team took over 350 hours and almost 90,000 bricks to build the model of the museum.

Dr Alison Sheridan with Stone Age axeheads. Pic: Phil Wilkinson.

Using scale-plans and elevation drawings, the miniature model depicts gallery details and a number of exhibition objects with thousands of tiny bricks. Showing as part of the Festival of Architecture 2016.

National Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, 10am-5pm, free