The impressive St Ninian's Isle Treasure includes jewellery and decorated bowls. Copyright National Museums Scotland

The only surviving hoard of Pictish metalwork in Scotland will return to the Shetland Isles this summer on a much-anticipated loan from the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The loan of the St Ninian’s Isle Treasure, discovered in 1958, marks the beginning of a new partnership agreement between National Museums Scotland and the Shetland Amenity Trust, which manages the redeveloped Shetland Museum and Archives.

The four-year agreement will boost skill-sharing opportunities as well as enhance access to the national collections, with the new museum facilities on Shetland offering a safe place for the display of artefacts usually kept in Edinburgh.

“We are looking forward to working more closely with the Shetland Amenity Trust,” said Dr Gordon Rintoul, Director, National Museums Scotland.

“This partnership is an opportunity to widen access to Scotland’s national collections and share expertise in museum skills," he continued. "We hope it will allow us to look at other areas of our collections that would be of interest to the community of Shetland and help to develop audiences to the Shetland Museum and Archives.”

Shetland's redeveloped Museum and Archives. © Mark Sinclair, Phatsheep Photography

More loans, joint exhibitions and collaboration on community projects will ensue. As well as the short-term loan of the Pictish silver (from July to September 2008), Shetland will take delivery of the Gunnister Man, on loan, in 2009. This is a body found buried in peat dating from the late 17th century, providing the earliest examples of knitted clothes from Shetland.

“We see this strategic partnership with National Museums Scotland as positive recognition of the quality of museum provision in Shetland and we look forward to many fruitful initiatives in the years ahead,” commented Jimmy Moncrieff, General Manager of the Shetland Amenity Trust.

National Museums Scotland has similar agreements with the Western Isles Museums Service and East Ayrshire Museum and Arts, signed in 2007, intended to develop wider access to NMS collections and support other Scottish museums.