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Scottish National Portrait Gallery

A red sandstone Gothic gallery of 1889 on Queen Street, with a painted Great Hall and Scotland's national portraits, free and open daily.

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The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is a red sandstone building on Queen Street, near St Andrew Square, designed by Robert Rowand Anderson and opened to the public in 1889.

Visited and photographed by Simon Hird

Carved poets, monarchs and statesmen look down on the street, and William Wallace and Robert the Bruce guard the entrance. Anderson wanted a shrine for Scotland's heroes, and the carving outside and the painting within were designed with that idea.

Inside, the Great Hall rises through two storeys, with an astrological ceiling and a painted frieze of 155 figures from Scottish history marching round the first-floor balustrade. The galleries bring Mary, Queen of Scots, Robert Burns and Robert Louis Stevenson together with Billy Connolly and other faces from recent Scotland. Entry is free, Café Portrait is on site, and it pays to leave time to look up as well as along the walls.

Before you go

Entry is free, and the gallery is open every day.

The national collection of portraits is shown here alongside the National Photography Collection.

Where
1 Queen Street, Edinburgh EH2 1JD, in the city centre near St Andrew Square.
Open
Every day, 10am to 5pm, with last admission at 4.45pm. Closed on 25 and 26 December, and open from noon to 5pm on 1 January.
Price
Free; some exhibitions charge.
Booking
No booking is needed for a general visit. Paid exhibitions have timed tickets that can be booked in advance.
Getting there
The St Andrew Square tram stop is two minutes' walk away, and Waverley Station is a few minutes' walk. Buses 10, 11, 12, 16, 26 and 44 go past the gallery, and any Princes Street or city centre bus to the east end of Princes Street leaves a short walk through St Andrew Square.
Parking
There is no car park at the gallery and very limited on-street parking nearby; the nearest car park is St James Quarter.
Dogs
Assistance dogs are welcome; other animals are not allowed in the building.
Access
The main entrance has 4 steps or a permanent ramp, and a member of the gallery team opens the front door. A glass lift serves the principal floors, wheelchairs can be borrowed free of charge, and there are accessible toilets, baby changing and a buggy park.
Food
Café Portrait is open daily 10am to 4.30pm, with last orders at 4pm. The Nook, its table-service restaurant, can be booked in advance.

Opening hours

Monday
10am–5pm
Tuesday
10am–5pm
Wednesday
10am–5pm
Thursday
10am–5pm
Friday
10am–5pm
Saturday
10am–5pm
Sunday
10am–5pm

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Did you know

A red sandstone gothic building with a spired turret and banners lines an Edinburgh street.
Did you know

A newspaper owner's gift.

John Ritchie Findlay, the owner of The Scotsman, paid for the building and an endowment, and masterminded the gallery himself. It opened to the public in 1889.

Gilt-framed portraits hang on a deep blue wall in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, a bench set before them.
Did you know

Carlyle wanted it.

The historian Thomas Carlyle was among those who called for a national portrait gallery for Scotland, and he stands first in the procession round the Great Hall.

Stone archways frame a gallery of framed portraits against blue walls.
Did you know

An earl's collection.

The national collection began with one eighteenth-century collector, David, 11th Earl of Buchan, who gathered portraits of famous Scots.

A painted processional frieze lines the upper gallery of a grand hall, wrought-iron railings below.
Did you know

A visual encyclopaedia.

Round the first-floor balustrade of the Great Hall, William Hole's frieze shows 155 figures from Scottish history, from Thomas Carlyle back to the Stone Age, with each name painted above the figure.

A painted frieze of historical figures runs above a stone archway in a grand hall, sculpted busts set below.
Did you know

Two collections, one building.

The building was given to the nation to hold the portrait collection and the collections of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and for its first hundred years the gallery shared its space with learned societies.

A carved stone spire crowns the corner of a red sandstone gothic building.
Did you know

Heroes on the walls.

Poets, monarchs and statesmen look down on Queen Street from the red sandstone, and William Wallace and Robert the Bruce guard the entrance.

Ben Lerwill

From our guide to Edinburgh

With a collection that encompasses everyone from Bonnie Prince Charlie to Emeli Sandé – and all housed in a vast Neogothic bastion of red sandstone – this was the first purpose-built portrait gallery in the world when it was opened in 1889. It’s still a wonderful attraction.

Read more
A marble statue stands beneath a painted frieze and hanging lanterns in a grand galleried hall.
What is on

What is new across Edinburgh, day by day.

New places, news and stories, as we find them.

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Where it is

On Queen Street in the city centre, near St Andrew Square, ten minutes' walk from the National on the Mound.

Close byThe places nearest the gallery, in the New Town.
  1. The banking hall at The Spence, Gleneagles Townhouse, with its glass dome, gilded ceiling and granite columns above diners and the central bar.The SpenceThe all-day restaurant of Gleneagles Townhouse on St Andrew Square, in the old banking hall, with a bar beneath its glass dome.Under a mile as the crow flies
  2. A table at Roti King: roti canai with a bowl of curry, nasi lemak with fried chicken and sambal, chicken satay, morning glory and glasses of iced tea.Roti KingA Malaysian restaurant off Princes Street known for its roti canai, the first in Scotland from Roti King, walk-in only.Under a mile as the crow flies
  3. Dundas HouseDundas HouseA Palladian mansion of 1771 on St Andrew Square, home of the Royal Bank of Scotland since 1825, with a banking hall under a dome of glass stars.Under a mile 2 min by road
  4. Corinthian columns wrapped in fairy lights with a red-bowed wreath at the entranceThe DomeA bar and restaurant in the old Commercial Bank of Scotland on George Street, built in the 1840s behind a Corinthian portico, with a great domed hall.Under a mile 2 min by road
  5. Calton HillCalton HillA volcanic hill beyond the east end of Princes Street, crowned with monuments and with panoramic views over Edinburgh to the Firth of Forth.Under a mile 3 min by road
  6. Red gallery walls hung with gilt-framed paintings above set dinner tables and a marble statueScottish National GalleryA free national gallery on the Mound, with art from 1300 to 1945 from Titian and Vermeer to the Glasgow Boys, open daily 10am to 5pm.Under a mile 3 min by road
Directions
French onion soup topped with cheese, a basket of bread and slices of saucisson on a table at Chez Jules on Hanover Street.RestaurantsChez Jules0.2 miles
The front of Bonnie & Wild on Level 4 of the St James Quarter, its name above the doors, with people eating at the tables outside under the glass roof.RestaurantsBonnie & Wild0.2 miles
A slice of New York-style margherita pizza on Flùr's printed paper, on a table in the Bonnie and Wild food hall.RestaurantsFlùr0.2 miles
Booth seating and framed portraits line a dark-panelled restaurant wallRestaurantsDishoom0.2 miles
Vinette's pale front on Broughton Street at dusk, its name above the apricot door and tall window, with lamps lit either side.RestaurantsVinette0.2 miles
The Broughton's deep blue pub front on Broughton Street, its name in gold above the windows and Welcome over the door.RestaurantsThe Broughton0.2 miles
The Cheese Gallery at The Big Cheese on Broughton Street: glass cabinets of cut wedges and whole wheels of cheese, each with its label.ShoppingThe Big Cheese0.2 miles
Lucky Yu's blue shopfront on Broughton Street at dusk, its windows lit pink by neon around an old wooden door.RestaurantsLucky Yu0.3 miles
The grey-green front of Archipelago Bakery at 39 Dundas Street, with its name in red above the door, a chalkboard outside and pink tables and chairs on the pavement.CafeArchipelago Bakery0.3 miles

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The Daily for 24 October, from Scotland with love. a stone arch bridge crossing a rushing gorge below a moss-covered cliffside building, autumn trees on both banks

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Stay nearby

Places to stay near the gallery, and when each is next free.

A hotel studio room with a beige fitted kitchen unit and stainless sink beside a bed dressed in white and teal cushions, a wall of black-framed pictures above a patterned headboard.Old Town Chambers
  • To stay
  • In Edinburgh
  • Under a mile from the Portrait Gallery
Check datesA round table and chairs stand before tall curtained windows looking onto stone buildings, a sofa and mounted television to the right.Moment George IV Bridge
  • Sleeps 2
  • In Edinburgh
  • Under a mile from the Portrait Gallery
Check datesWest End Muse
  • Sleeps 4
  • In Edinburgh
  • Under a mile from the Portrait Gallery
Check datesA turreted sandstone building with conical spires catches the evening light above rooftops, a large pine tree standing beside it.The Scott Hotel
  • A hotel
  • In Edinburgh
  • 2 miles from the Portrait Gallery
Check datesPlaces to stayEvery stay in EdinburghAll our places to stay nearby, to search by date and by who is coming.See them all
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What we have written about it, the collections it is in and more in Edinburgh.

From the magazineInside Lifestory: Edinburgh’s Home for Useful, Beautiful ThingsFrom the magazineThe Nooks & Crannies of EdinburghCollectionThings to Do in Edinburgh on a ShoestringCollectionScotland's Best Art Galleries
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