The museum and waterside development at Hays Dock. © Mark Sinclair, Phatsheep Photography

The £11.6m new Shetland Museum and Archive is opening with a double royal visit on May 31 2007.

Prince Charles and Camilla – the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay – will be joined by Queen Sonja of Norway to open the new development at Hays Dock in the centre of Lerwick, Shetland’s capital.

The islands are closer to Bergen in Norway than they are to Edinburgh and many examples of their Norse and Pictish heritage are on display in the new museum.

The waterside structure features a striking three storey sail-shaped Boat Hall housing five suspended historic boats, with surrounding viewing platforms. Its new galleries will display some 3,000 artefacts, from a working lighthouse optic to delicate Fair Isle knitting and archaeological finds from its eventful history.

This bronze horse figurine is returning to Shetland to be on display at the museum. © National Museum of Scotland

The islands’ archives of written, photographic, oral and musical records will also be accessible to the public and specially commissioned art works have been installed inside and outside the building.

Seventeen historic objects have also returned to the island to be displayed at the new museum. Now on permanent loan from the National Museums of Scotland, many of the artefacts left Shetland more than 100 years ago.

“The objects span many aspects of our history and include enigmatic Pictish art, folklore traditions and the Napoleonic War,” said Dr Ian Tait, Curator of Collections at Shetland Museum.

“Many of these items left Shetland more than a century ago – before there was any museum on Shetland – so it’s very exciting for us to be able to bring them back to their homeland.”

The Muness Castle Panel is one of the unique local artefacts on display at the new venue. © National Museum of Scotland

They include a wooden panel from the inside of Muness Castle, the only surviving piece of internal architecture from the Shetland island of Unst. It is thought it was salvaged from the castle more than 300 years ago.

A bronze horse figurine, thought to date from as far back as the 1100s has also been returned, found at the Cross Kirk in Framgord, Eshaness in the 1920s. Charms like this were often left in old churches in the hope that the church would bestow good luck to the donor.

The new museum forms the centrepiece of the restoration of the 1830s Hay’s Dock area and many recycled building and traditional building methods were used in its construction. The project has been chosen as an example of best practice by the Scottish Executive.

After its official Royal opening the museum will launch to the public on the weekend of June 2-3 2007 with a series of special events.