Originally built as a house for Sir James Rocheid, a 19th-century agriculturalist, Inverleith House was sold to RBGE in 1877, becoming home to its Regius Keeper. In 1960, the house turned into the inaugural Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, before transitioning into RBGE’s official art gallery in 1986.
In 2020, RBGE was awarded Outset Contemporary Art Fund’s Transformative Grant, in partnership with the Serpentine Galleries. RBGE’s new, overarching project, Climate House, reconnects Inverleith House to its surroundings and places climate change at the heart of all our activity, operationally and creatively. With the Serpentine, we are also establishing the General Ecology Network, supported by Art Fund.
The ‘Botanics’ in Edinburgh and our three Regional Gardens – Benmore in Argyll, Logan in Dumfries and Galloway, and Dawyck in the Scottish Borders – constitute one of the richest plant collections on Earth. Faced with climate change, RBGE’s work plays an increasingly crucial role nationally and internationally, delivering vital plant science, conservation, education and engagement programmes, guided by a mission to explore, conserve and explain the world of plants for a better future.
