3380. Perth Museum

We got to visit the new Perth Museum which opened yesterday in what was the old City Hall.  The local council tried to demolish this building years ago which would have been an absolute travesty.  We were some of the very few who wanted to see it saved, but this number grew after historic Scotland refused permission for it to be demolished.  It was finally saved and with grants from the National Lottery amongst many others, it was finally renovated and it looks absolutely amazing inside.  It did cost a lot of money to be refurbished but it’s free to go into and they have so many artefacts which can now be displayed for everyone to see.  It also now houses the “Stone of Scone” or the “Stone of Destiny” used for centuries to crown Kings and Queens, it was used most recently at the Coronation of King Charles III.  The exhibition is beautifully done and well worth a visit. It’s free to see but you do have to book a slot to see it, something many people didn’t do today and were turned away, which is a pity.  They have a lot of security measures in place for it so I can understand why they limit it to 15 people at a time.  The Unicorn Exhibition (which is not free) was a little disappointing and whilst there were some interesting artefacts detailing Scotland’s long heritage with Unicorns, the more modern stuff was just a bit too fluffy for me!
I couldn’t take any photos of the Stone of Scone as it wasn’t allowed, but did manage a photo of a real live Unicorn!