We don't have guided tours in our city centre venues or at Queensferry Museum, but there is information in each of our galleries to help you explore our collections.
Guided tours are provided at Lauriston Castle.
There is a cloakroom for luggage or buggies at the City Art Centre, but unfortunately we do not have luggage storage facilities at our other city centre venues, on the Travelling Gallery, or at Queensferry Museum. There is a luggage storage facility at Waverley train station.
Luggage may be left at Lauriston Castle - please speak to the Steward or Assistant Steward.
Please check out the 'Visitor Information' section of the venue you wish to visit to find out information about where we are and how to get there.
There is a cafe at the City Art Centre which has a fabulous menu of drinks, snacks and light meals. With the exception of Lauriston Castle, all our venues are well served by nearby shops, cafes, pubs and restaurants.
The City Art Centre and Museum of Edinburgh have rooms that can be booked in advance for groups wishing to eat packed lunches, Princes Street Gardens and Calton Hill provide a scenic al fresco picnic location for visitors to the Scott and Nelson Monuments. There are also picnic benches in the grounds of Lauriston Castle
Please speak to one of the customer assistants about guidelines that apply regarding photography in the venue.
The Travelling Gallery usually tours from mid February until early June and then from the end of August until early December. It is often in a different place every day.
To catch up with it check out the Travelling Gallery website...
Or find us on Facebook.
The Museum of Childhood, Museum of Edinburgh and Lauriston Castle have a small area for prams and buggies; please ask one of our customer assistants, or the Steward / Assistant Steward at Lauriston for help. Items are left at the owner's own risk.
Unfortunately our other venues do not have space for prams and buggies, and other than at the City Art Centre, stairs and the layouts of the historic buildings may limit accessibility for prams and buggies.
Please contact Margaret Findlay on 0131 529 3963 to discuss your requirements.
Unfortunately, like other museums and public galleries, we are unable to provide valuations. You should contact a local auction house for a valuation.
The Nelson Monument and Museum of Childhood have brief information about those venues in French, Spanish and German. At the Scott Monument there is audio information in French, Spanish, Italian and German.
The Museum of Childhood has a number of hands-on exhibits for children, including dressing up costumes, and there are also a number of Saturday workshops throughout the year.
At the Museum of Edinburgh there is a free Family Activity space full of fun activities including crafts and dressing up. The Silver Gallery also has an interactive exhibit.
A number of family events and arts, crafts and environmental workshops are run at Lauriston Castle.
The beautiful grounds are available for wedding photography for a fee of £100, however we do not offer the grounds or castle as a wedding venue.
The castle is a well-preserved museum containing many fragile objects and nationally important collections, and we are under a trust obligation to maintain the rooms exactly as they were left at the death of Mrs Reid in 1926. Using them for ceremonies and receptions would go against the purpose of the Lauriston Castle Trust and the spirit of the Museum Association’s Code of Ethics.
If you wish to discuss hiring the grounds for wedding photography, please email the Steward or telephone 0131 336 2060.
Lauriston Castle was left in trust in 1926 at the death of the last owner, Mrs Margaret Johnstone Barton. In a joint understanding with her husband, Mr W.R. Reid, and her brother W.D. Barton, it was agreed that the last of them surviving would give the house, contents and grounds to the Scottish nation. The Edinburgh Corporation (today The City of Edinburgh Council) accepted perpetual trusteeship of the Lauriston Castle Trust from the Secretary of State for Scotland and took over the day to day management of the castle and grounds.
The grounds are used regularly for family events and environmental workshops such as bug hunts and scavenger hunts. In the interests of health and safety to our visitors we therefore do not allow dogs in the grounds.
Please contact David Patterson, Curator, Fine Art Collections at: City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DE, or by email. .
Please tell us the nature of your enquiry, and provide a stamped addressed envelope if you are sending photographs by post and would like them returned. If you are sending images electronically, the maximum size we can accept is 1Mb.
The art collection is presently exhibited in a series of temporary displays. These might focus on particular themes, time periods, artists or mediums. We aim to show parts of our collection throughout the year on at least one gallery floor. From spring 2011 we will have one floor of the gallery dedicated permanently to the display of the art collection.
Yes, although sometimes it depends on staff availability and the accessibility of the work. Please phone (tel: 0131 529 3993), write (Curator, Fine Art Collections, City Art Centre, 2 Market Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1DE) or email in advance to arrange a suitable date and time.
We have an advisory committee that meets on average twice a year to consider new acquisitions. The Committee is made up of elected city councillors and outside specialist advisors. The committee seeks to acquire works by contemporary artists as well as trying to fill historic gaps in the collection. In addition, we sometimes receive donations or bequests from members of the public or artists.
We receive numerous exhibition requests throughout the year and while they are considered on a regular basis, due to the volume of submissions received, responses to proposals may take several months. Each proposal is carefully considered taking into account the City Art Centre’s existing programme, audiences, budgets and space limitations. Please note that not only do we receive a large number of proposals each year, we also initiate many exhibitions ourselves. Therefore we cannot always accommodate all the exhibitions we find interesting.
Information on submitting an exhibition proposal may be found on our City Art Centre pages.
We plan our exhibitions programme well in advance aiming to have an upcoming exhibition programme in place for the next 2 years. This provides us with sufficient time to plan and organise major exhibitions as well as related educational, marketing and fundraising initiatives.
The City of Edinburgh Council now advertises all jobs on myjobscotland - the Scottish national recruitment portal.
To search online and apply, click on the Vacancies Page tab on myjobscotland.
Have a look at the myjobscotland site's FAQs page for information about using myjobscotland to apply for jobs online.
Offline Applications
The Council will accept offline applications only in exceptional circumstances. If you are unable to apply online please contact the Recruitment Team for advice.
If you have any queries please email recruitment@edinburgh.gov.uk or telephone 0131 469 5555 (option 2).
If you would like your work considered for purchase to the collection then please send recent visuals, an artist statement and your CV to the City Art Centre for the attention of David Patterson or Ian O'Riordan.
The City Art Centre is located at:
2 Market Street
Edinburgh
EH1 1DE
A number of works from the fine art collection are included on www.capitalcollections.org.uk In many instances, photographic prints or digital images can be ordered. If there are particular items from the art collection that you are interested in but which do not feature on the Capital Collections web site, then please write to the Curator of Fine Art at the City Art Centre detailing which art work you would like to obtain a print from. You will be sent a form to complete which will specify any costs involved.
Please be aware that we can only make prints from works where permission has been granted by the artist or which are out of copyright.