Kilmartin Museum

“How many museums can you go to where you can examine a Bronze Age pot and look out of the window and see the burial mound where it came from?”

— Sir Tony Robinson (Time Team)

Kilmartin Museum is currently closed and will re-open on 25 April. In the meantime, make sure to visit our Learning Centre between 1 and 23 April to experience the St Columba exhibition - see What’s On section for more information.

The Museum’s new visitor experiences offer you the chance to journey back through 12,000 years, bringing our ancestors’ stories to life in bold and captivating ways.

Located at the heart of an internationally important landscape on the west coast of Scotland, Kilmartin Museum cares for and displays fascinating ancient artefacts close to the sites where they were discovered. Among our treasures are some of Scotland’s earliest examples of Beaker pottery, incredible quartz tools used to make mysterious prehistoric rock art, and stunningly crafted early metalwork.

In 2019, just over half of the 22,000 artefacts in our Collections were awarded Nationally Significant status by Museums Galleries Scotland and an independent panel of experts. A huge accolade of which we are very proud! Our re-opening marks the first time many of these important and fascinating artefacts will be publicly displayed.

The new exhibition also features stunning objects loaned to us by National Museums Scotland, the British Museum, Historic Environment Scotland and Argyll and Bute Council. They include beautiful Bronze Age jewellery, symbols of power from the age of the warrior kings of Dunadd, and intricately sculpted medieval crosses. Together with the Museum's collections, these constitute one of the most comprehensive assemblages of ancient artefacts to be displayed in the landscape where they were found.

Kilmartin Museum was founded in 1997 by Rachel Butter and David Clough. We are a working Museum that collects archaeological finds from across Argyll, actively undertakes research through survey and excavation, and uses our research facilities to process, protect and care for these pieces of our history long into the future.

We couldn’t do this without the incredible help of the many agencies, organisations, trusts, foundations and generous individuals who support our work. Their assistance enables us to continue to collect and care for our artefact collections to the highest standard and to run our acclaimed educational outreach. It has helped make our dream of a new museum possible.

Current Special Exhibition: CARBON LEGACY

Inherited Actions and our Influence on the Future by artist Lizzie Rose

The origins of the cursus monument saw 375 oak trees cut down and re-erected, then ritualistically burnt, in a bold statement of fire, power and spectacle in Kilmartin Glen 5,500 years ago. The mystery of its creation marked the point where humans started to make their impact on the local landscape known, an action that reflects the mass destruction of the forests to make way for human settlement and agriculture.

Carbon Legacy reflects on how our actions implicate our future, and the relevancy of this within the human-induced climate crisis we face. It demonstrates the relevancy of studying past human actions, the importance of the legacy we inherit and that which we bestow into the future. Rose makes the point that the present is a fulcrum, the essential moment to enact change – to become good ancestors.

The multi-format exhibition uses sculptural and photographic elements rooted in the history of the local area reflecting the visually bold monumental moment, interpretations of archaeology, contemporary relevance, and time. It also involves the exhibition of nearly 400 oak tree seedlings within the museum grounds. The saplings will later be planted in a collaborative action, leaving a legacy in Kilmartin Glen near the original monument site.

Carbon Legacy is jointly funded by Kilmartin Museum and Creative Scotland.