Scottish museum collections are being opened up to a worldwide audience through the internet.

The country’s universities hold a disproportionately high percentage of Scotland’s nationally important collections - more than 1.8 million items - but only 7.5 per cent can be viewed on the web and less than 40 per cent is catalogued.

Nine universities, led by Aberdeen, are shining a light on the nation’s scientific and cultural heritage, after University Museums in Scotland received pound;240,000 from the Scottish Funding Council towards the pound;318,000 project.

The 18-month project, Revealing the Hidden Collections, will see artefacts electronically recorded, photographed and uploaded to the Culture Grid, a national database run by the Collections Trust, the Museums Libraries and Archives Council, and the European Commission.

www.umis.ac.uk.