Timeline

● 1850: Prince Albert lays the foundation stone at The Mound for a new National Gallery, which will be built alongside the existing Royal Scottish Building.

● 1859: The building designed by William Henry Playfair opens – two years after he has passed away.

● 1889: Demand to see the National Gallery’s growing collection of work leads to the creation of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.

● 1959: A Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art opens up at Inverleith House, in the Royal Botanic Garden, to house paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings from 1900 onwards.

● 1971: Five new galleries are created in a new upper floor at the south end of the National Gallery building, to house a collection of late 19th and early 20th century French paintings.

● 1978: New galleries are opened beneath the ground floor of the National Gallery to house its Scottish collection, and create space for a print, room library and picture store.

● 1984: A new home for the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art opens at the former John Watson’s School on Belford Road.

● 1999: A new contemporary art gallery opens up on the other side of Belford Road in the former Dean Orphan Hospital.

● 2004: A new underground link is created to connect the National Gallery and Royal Scottish Academy buildings, as well as provide a restaurant overlooking East Princes Street Gardens, a lecture theatre and cinema and an education suites.

● 2011: The Scottish National Portrait Gallery reopens after a £17.6 million overhaul which creates 60 per cent more public space.

● 2012: A feasibility study is launched into a revamp to improve exhibition spaces for the Scottish collections in the National Gallery building.