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Photo: Kjetil Bjørnsrud, CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons
Concepts and imagery of childhood are ever-changing. See if you can find your (or your grandparents') old toys in the collection, and your place in history.
The Museum of Childhood is a museum that houses a collection of children's toys and playthings, situated on the Royal Mile, in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the first museum in the world to specialise in the history of childhood. Admission to the museum is free. It is run and owned by City of Edinburgh Council.
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Scotland's oldest purpose-built concert hall, opened in 1763 and still in regular use. It hosts the University of Edinburgh collection of historic musical instruments, crafted 16th to 20th century, many of which (such as the Trompette Demilune) are no longer played.
Gallery of contemporary art, refurbished in 2018. From 1936 to the 1970s this was where soft fruit and veg were traded, handy for the trains and delivery vans.
Four-floor gallery run by the city council. They rotate artwork from their extensive Scottish collection and have changing exhibitions.
Photography gallery with three exhibitions a year. They also support photographers through courses and hire of equipment, darkroom and digital lab.
Mary King (1590-1644) was a clothes merchant and city burgess. She died the year before plague struck and carried off the rest of her family. In 1753 Royal Exchange, now City Chambers, was built over several closes by demolishing their upper storeys, while the lower storeys were used for storage then later blocked off. This means a warren of medieval alleys and low dwellings has been preserved, re-opened in 2003 and visited by guided tour. Almost as weighty as the Exchange is the mass of ghost stories piled on top of the close, woo-ooh! - but the real history is fascinating enough. Book ahead as it often sells out.
"Haunted House" experience, where you take a 70 min tour through 11 shows and 2 rides loosely based on Scotland's horrible history: William Wallace, Mary King's Ghost, cannibal Sawney Bean, Burke and Hare and more.