The National Museums Collection Centre at Granton provides a home for many of the objects and specimens that are not currently on display in the National Museums of Scotland. In fact, its collections are so extensive that only a small proportion can ever be shown ,at once but the stored material is kept so that exhibitions can be refreshed and subjects can be studied in depth.

The main storage building opened in 1996 and houses collections from the departments of Scotland and Europe, Science and Technology, World Cultures and Natural Sciences. There are a number of other buildings on site housing important and interesting collections, such as the Scottish transport and communication collections.

The National Galleries of Scotland also has a purpose-built storage building on site holding some of their reserve painting and sculpture collections. For information on access, please contact the National Galleries of Scotland.

With the construction of the new store the textile and costume collections from the Scotland and Europe and World Cultures departments will be brought together in one location. This will include the recently acquired Jean Muir Collection of 20th century costume and accessories created by the legendary fashion designer.

The Centre is not presently open to the public as the site is undergoing extensive development work. A new Reception and Conservation Building is under construction, and will be followed by another new storage building in 2007. This is part of the Royal Museum Project which will increase public access to the Collection Centre. Tours are scheduled to resume in 2008.