A Tour of the Smith Building
Over
130 years old, the story of the Smith building carries almost as
much historical interest as the collections which are stored within it.
Join us now on a tour of the Smith, to discover more about its proud
heritage in the past, and to find out what kind of attractions are in store
for visitors in today's modern world.
Reception and Shop
On entering the Smith, you will meet our front-of-house staff who are ready to welcome you to the art gallery and museum. The shop and reception area will lead you into the different galleries, the cafe, and also the lecture theatre, as well as our on-site facilities. The stained glass inner doorway was designed and installed by Yvonne Smith and Joe Boyle of GlasWorks Glasgow in 1998, and is acid etched with the names of companies, organisations and individuals who have given support to the Smith. New names are added from time to time.
This is the Smith's main entry, where the shop and reception area are sited. Guests can examine our range of publications, as well as a variety of other goods such as jewellery, greetings cards and prints in the shop.
It is here that staff are on hand to deal with visitors' queries, and to take bookings for the use of the Smith's lecture theatre, which is regularly home to events such as the Friends of the Smith lecture series, meetings of the Board of Trustees, and conferences, conventions and assemblies of a great many other groups who come from far and wide to hold gatherings here.
Gallery 1 and Cafe Area
In the early years of the Smith, this gallery was a reading room which held thousands of reference publications. Following that, it became a natural history room for many years, captivating visitors with its exotic range of mounted specimens. Today, it is home to a constantly changing series of different exhibitions, showcasing all forms of art and a range of many other exhibits.
Gallery 1 also houses the Smith's cafe. The cafe is available to visit during the building's main opening hours (Tuesday - Saturday, 10:30am - 5pm; Sundays 2pm - 5pm), but service stops 30 minutes before closing time. The cafe serves the public throughout the year.
The window hangings feature a stencil scheme designed by George Walton (1867-1933) for Miss Cranston's Crown Luncheon and Tea Rooms, Argyle Street, Glasgow, 1899. The scheme was chosen for use here as it features deer, the beasts common to the King's Park until the eighteenth century.
There is a variety of literature to read in Gallery 1, detailing venues and events throughout the area, which harkens back to the days when the Stirling public of Victorian times would leaf through printed matter in the comfort of the Smith building. No doubt Thomas Stuart Smith would be pleased to know that this tradition continues even to this day.
Lecture Theatre
The Smith's lecture theatre area seats around a hundred people, and is a popular venue at any time of the year. The venue can be booked both during the day and in the evening, and facilities include a radio microphone system, television with video/DVD, and a large pull-down screen with blackout facility for those wishing to use their own projection equipment. There are also many electrical sockets situated throughout the room, and Internet access is available on request.
For further details of our lecture theatre, please click here.
Gallery 2
In
the past, Gallery 2 was used as a picture gallery for watercolour paintings.
Today, visitors may still view paintings and photography of many different
types, but the gallery is also used to house all kinds of different
exhibitions too - some of them of a community or special interest nature.
During the summer months, the traditional red walls are used to show the Smith's historical paintings to advantage.
Gallery 3
Gallery 3 remains one the largest single exhibition spaces in Central Scotland. For many years it was home to a comprehensive collection of oil paintings. Today, however, guests will find far more than paintings on display, as this gallery is home to the Stirling Story.
The Smith's permanent exhibition since 2000, the Stirling Story is a wide-ranging view of the history of Stirling from Neolithic times up until the present day. The Stirling Story takes the visitor on a tour through many different aspects of Stirling life throughout the centuries - the community, the art, the history, and everything that has made the city the vibrant and exciting place that it is today.
The Stirling Story also contains a variety of children's activities including dressing up, colouring in, and audio-visual presentations for the whole family. The Stirling Story is where Stirling comes to life - past, present and future. This important display features for the first time in the Smith’s history, an interpretation of the history of Stirling, told using artefacts from the Smith collections. It has been funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and sponsorship from Scottish Amicable.
