MUSEUM NAN EILEAN

The Nicolson Institute Secondary Department c1900. This is now Stornoway's Museum

Museum nan Eilean

Steòrnabhagh

Museum nan Eilean was established in 1983 by Comhairle nan Eilean, the Western Isles Islands Council, as it was then, to provide the first professional museum service for the Western Isles. Its Stornoway museum opened in 1984 in accommodation in the Town Hall.

In 1995, it moved into its present home, following an extensive programme of works to convert the building into a museum. This building originally served as the Secondary Department of the Nicolson Institute and first opened its doors to pupils in 1898.

The museum holds collections of objects, photographs, prints and paintings and archives illustrating the archaeology, social, domestic and economic history of the islands.