National Trust for Scotland unveils its new £21m Robert Burns Birthplace Museum

The National Trust for Scotland has opened the doors to its £21m Robert Burns Birthplace Museum (RBBM) – the first major museum to open in Scotland in three years and the bench mark against which all future Trust properties will be set.

The highly anticipated opening is the culmination of years of planning and includes a 500m2 exhibition space which has four distinct areas – ‘Identity’, ‘Inspiration’, ‘Fame’ and ‘Creative Works’ - addressing every aspect of Burns’ life through an innovative and thought-provoking interpretation.

The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum replaces what was formerly known as the Burns National Heritage Park to bring together all of the Alloway sites with a connection to Burns including the new 1,600m2 museum, the Burns Monument, Alloway Auld Kirk, Burns Cottage, an education pavilion and Auld Brig O’Doon. A new footbridge will also be created to link key sites to the new museum to make accessibility as easy as possible for visitors.

Part of the museum space will play host to a series of temporary interpretations with the inaugural exhibition being a major new showcase by Scottish artist Peter Howson. The exhibition, ‘Howson Burns: Revealed’, features 15 new portraits of Robert Burns which are on display and available to purchase from December 2010 – June 2011. The exhibition includes 12 pastel paintings and 3 new oil paintings of the bard which are guaranteed to spark the interest of fans of Burns and Howson alike.