The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum

Due to open to the public in September 2010, the new museum will help preserve Robert Burns' poetry, passion and the Scots tongue.

Scotland’s national poet, Robert Burns, was born in a simple cottage in Alloway, Ayrshire, on 25 January, 1759. That date is now celebrated internationally as Burns Night and the poet’s birthplace has become a symbol of the man whose poetry, song and humanitarian sentiment were to spread throughout the world. No monument better captures the spirit of a poet whose work is so firmly rooted in the traditions, language and rhythms of Scotland yet which resonates so powerfully in the imaginations and hearts of people everywhere.

With the help of the Scottish Government, the Heritage Lottery Fund and a major fundraising campaign by the National Trust for Scotland, Robert Burns’ birthplace is undergoing redevelopment. Central to this will be the creation of a new museum in Alloway to house thousands of manuscripts, rare editions, personal artefacts and other items connected with the Scottish poet comprising the most extensive and significant Robert Burns collection anywhere. Reunited in a modern, purpose-built home in Alloway, the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum collection will provide unrivalled access for researchers, students, tourists and Burns-lovers alike.

The museum and its associated interpretation will not only give people an opportunity to explore the imagination and inspiration of Burns but will also connect to the living creativity of Scotland. Contemporary commissions, exhibitions and programmes such as writers’ fellowships will showcase new Scottish writing talent and bring new audiences to Burns. The museum will help to promote the vibrant and continuing power of Scots language in literature.

Robert Burns Museum - Work in Progress

The new museum is due to open in late 2010, as the culmination of a programme of building, landscaping, restoration and interpretation of the birthplace site. The first phase of this took place on 30 November 2009, with the reopening of Burns Cottage itself. The site features new displays that draw visitors into the world of Burns’ childhood imagination. Alongside this is a new education centre. The reopening of Burns Cottage, on St Andrew’s Day, coincided with the climax of Homecoming Scotland – a nationwide celebration of Robert Burns’ 250th birthday and all things Scottish.

The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum project is a major undertaking – costing around £21 million. It represents the biggest literary museum development in Scotland’s history. Why now, in a time of general economic prudence, is it so important to invest in the heritage of a man born to humble beginnings, whose family were hounded by debt collectors, who never had the right to vote and who died with a net worth of just one Scots pound? For the National Trust for Scotland, the Scottish Government and all the hundreds of people who have given to the project – and who continue to give – it is simply that more than ever, we need Burns. We need the rantin’ rovin’ rebel whose sharp tongue and lightning wit hold up a mirror to our souls and find within them, despite their prurience or pomposity, an essential humanity that can reach out and connect across the world. Despite all of our differences and despite all that separates, Burns unites; encouraging us, in his most famous song to offer our hands to each other and ‘tak a cup of kindness, yet.’

Robert Burns History – A Global Icon

Just as the words of Auld Lang Syne have permeated our global consciousness, from It’s a Wonderful Life to When Harry met Sally, Robert Burns has become a global icon for Scotland. Yet with icons come myths and Burns has been subject to many. The Robert Burns Birthplace Museum will provide a touchstone for people to connect with the man behind the myth. Nowhere else will they be able to get as close to the reality of the poet’s life and work, often in its roughest, manuscript form and within the landscape that inspired him. For all visitors, whether they are steeped in Burns’ poetry or have just hummed along to Auld Lang Syne at New Year, they will be bound to find a few surprises – about Scotland’s favourite son and possibly even about themselves along the way.

Though your Muse is a gipsy,
Yet were she even tipsy,
She could ca’ us nae waur than we are,
Poet Burns,
She could ca’ us nae waur than we are.
(from Robert Burns Orthodox, Orthodox)