Museums - Marischal Museum

The Marischal Museum was established in 1786 at Marischal College, which was founded in 1593 on the site of the city's Franciscan friary as the second university in Aberdeen, following the foundation of King's College in 1495. The two universities were united in 1860 as the University of Aberdeen. Marischal College was rebuilt between 1836 and 1906, and a number of extensions, constructed between 1895 and 1906 and designed by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie, transformed the building into the second-largest granite structure in the world. Later additions included a purpose-built conservation laboratory. The museum is currently closed for construction while the front part of the building is converted to house the headquarters of the Aberdeen City Council, and reopening is scheduled for late 2010.
The Marischal Museum began with materials donated by generations of allies and graduates of the University of Aberdeen, and has grown to include collections in Egyptian and Classical antiquities, non-Western ethnography, Scottish prehistory and numismatics, and fine art. The 9,000-piece ethnographic collection contains a range of works from Oceania, Africa, East and Southeast Asia, India, Australia, and the Americas. Objects on display include utilitarian items, statuary, weaponry, costume and regalia, masks, carvings, sea vessels, and more. Important donors to the museum's tribal art collection have been Sir William MacGregor, Captain William Mitchell, the Reverend Frederick Bowie, Dr. John MacPherson, and John Baird.