Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum facts for kids
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| Former name | Smith Institute |
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| Established | 1874 |
| Location | Stirling, Scotland |
| Type | Art and local history museum |
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum is a fun place to explore art and local history in Stirling, Scotland. It used to be called The Smith Institute. This museum was started in 1874 thanks to a generous gift from an artist named Thomas Stuart Smith.
Contents
The Smith Museum's Story
How the Museum Started
Thomas Stuart Smith was an artist who traveled and painted in Italy. He became very successful. When he inherited money, he decided to create an art collection. He wanted to build a special place in Stirling to share his art and other collections with everyone.
Smith planned for a library, a museum, and a reading room. He officially set up the trust in November 1869. Sadly, he passed away the very next month in Avignon, so he never saw his dream come true.
The place chosen for the Smith Museum was a bit far from the old town. Many people signed a petition about it. The building was one of the first in a new area of Stirling. It was not directly connected to the old town until much later.
The Smith Institute first opened its doors on 11 August 1874. It was a huge celebration in Stirling! Shops closed early so people could attend the opening. The local leader, Provost Christie, said that the location was chosen because it was quiet and clean. This made it a great place for people to study art, science, and books.
Early Days and Cool Curators
The first person in charge of the Smith Museum was Alexander Croall (1804–1885). He was a natural historian, which means he studied nature. He was also the first curator of the Derby Museum and Art Gallery before coming to Stirling. Croall loved plants and even prepared a collection of plants for Queen Victoria! He was known for his four-volume book about seaweeds and was nicknamed ‘Roosty Tangle’ because of his passion.
Croall helped start the Stirling Fine Art Association and the Stirling Field Club. Members of the Field Club helped build up the museum's collections.
When Croall passed away, his son-in-law, James Sword, became the curator (1885–1921). Sword was great at collecting historical items and old coins called communion tokens. He also loved nature and was skilled at preparing stuffed animals for display. He even improved the museum's gardens.
Art Shows and Music
From 1881 to 1938, the Smith Museum regularly held art exhibitions every three years. Many famous Scottish artists showed their work here. Local artists also displayed their paintings and designs.
These art shows often included lectures and concerts. Young Muir Mathieson, who later became a famous music director, even had his early music played at these concerts.
During the World Wars
The museum's normal activities stopped during World War I (1914-1921) and World War II (1939-1948). The building was used by soldiers for sleeping and other military needs. This caused a lot of damage to the museum.
Paintings had to be moved into smaller rooms to make space for the troops. The building was damaged, with broken windows, plaster, and floors. The iron railings outside were even removed to help the war effort.
The museum's third curator, Joseph McNaughton, worked from 1921 until the soldiers left in 1947. He even published a catalog of the museum's collections in 1934.
Hidden History: Artillery
One of the galleries, Gallery Three, was used to house soldiers during both wars. They likely cleaned their weapons there. Over the years, live bullets were found in the heating ducts! When the gallery was being fixed up, workers carefully searched and found even more ammunition.
Saving the Smith Museum (1959-1990)
After the wars, the museum faced tough times. The money left by Thomas Stuart Smith wasn't enough to keep the building in good shape. By the 1960s, the museum was in serious trouble.
In 1970, some important wooden sculptures called the Stirling Heads were moved to Stirling Castle to keep them safe. The museum building was in such bad condition that some people thought it might need to be torn down.
But in 1973, a group of concerned citizens formed the "Friends of the Smith." They worked with the local government to save the building and its collections. A big renovation project started in the mid-1980s. During this time, they found that the original builders had cut corners. For example, one wall was only two bricks thick but very tall! They had to rebuild it to make it safe.
Recent Years (1996-2005)
In the late 1990s, the Friends of the Smith helped the museum win an award for restoring a painting. They also helped create popular exhibitions about William Wallace and the history of Stirling.
In 2002, a special garden called Ailie's Garden was created behind the museum. It's a place for nature and play. The Friends group also helped the museum get many new members, which was a big success!
The Smith Museum Building
Thomas Stuart Smith had wanted to oversee the building's construction himself. Because he couldn't, some parts of the building were built in unusual ways. The architect was John Lessels from Edinburgh.
Most of the building's stone came from a local quarry. The front of the building has four large pillars. Above the main entrance, you can see carvings of Stirling's wolf and castle symbols. There's also a coat of arms that was meant to be Thomas Stuart Smith's.
The side of the building facing Victoria Road is very long. It has special windows with three sections. The west side of the building has no windows, as it was designed to allow for future additions.
The Smith Museum used to have a home for the curator and their family. This area is now used for offices.
When the museum first opened, it had five main public areas:
- The Reading Room and Library was a large room with a fancy ceiling. It later became the natural history room and is now used for temporary exhibitions and the Smith Café.
- The Small Museum showed off old Scottish items. It's now a lecture room used by community groups. It also has a beautiful stained glass window.
- Gallery 2 was for watercolor paintings and is now used for changing art exhibitions.
- Gallery 3 was for oil paintings and now houses the "Stirling Story" exhibition, which tells the history of the area.
- The General Museum on the east side held many museum collections. This area is now used for storage and is not open to the public.
The museum needs more space for workshops and storage. This means that some of the public areas are now used for storing collections. The museum hopes to find new storage space so that Gallery 3 can once again be used for displaying its amazing collection of paintings.
Most of the building work was done by local companies. The decoration was done by a famous Edinburgh company called Bonnar and Carfrae.
Images for kids
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Stained Glass Window in Stirling Art Gallery
