Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
A former children's refuge from 1825 and an orphanage from 1833 face each other across Belford Road — now holding over 6,000 works of modern art.
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The collection runs from 1900 to the present across Modern One and Modern Two. Modern One opens with European modernists and cubist work, and the building itself was designed by William Burn in 1825 as a refuge for fatherless children — the architecture is as loaded as the art.
What to look for
- Paintings by André Derain and Pierre Bonnard in Modern One's early 20th-century European rooms
- The neoclassical shell of Modern One — William Burn's 1825 John Watson's Institution, built as a children's refuge
- Modern Two across Belford Road: the former Dean Orphan Hospital, erected by Thomas Hamilton in 1833
Both buildings sit on Belford Road, west of Edinburgh city centre — plan enough time to cross the road and see both.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art is one of 28 sights worth the detour in Edinburgh, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Edinburgh pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Edinburgh
- Edinburgh CastleAttacked 26 times over 1,100 years — research calls it the most besieged place in Great Britain.
- Holyrood PalaceScotland's working royal residence since the 1500s — the actual rooms where Mary, Queen of Scots lived are open to walk through.
- The National (Scottish National Gallery)Since 1912, two near-identical neoclassical buildings have stood side by side on The Mound — visitors have been walking into the wrong one ever since.
- National Museum of ScotlandDolly the sheep, one of Elton John's extravagant suits, and a Victorian cast-iron hall — all under one free roof on Chambers Street.
- Murrayfield StadiumScotland's largest stadium opened in 1925 with a Grand Slam win — 70,000 people watched it happen.
- St Giles' CathedralA prayer book read here in 1637 caused a riot that sparked a rebellion pulling three kingdoms into war.