The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum

The Stirling Smith is the home of a significant collection of rare and unique artefacts, spanning centuries of Scottish, British and World history. The collection is managed by the Smith's three full-time curatorial staff, and contains many remarkable objects, including a great many items of interest from the worlds of social history, ethnography, women's history, natural history, and fine art.

The Smith holds one of the most important collections in Scotland, and the exhibits which are on display are visited by guests from all over the world. We have a permanent exhibition on the premises, The Stirling Story, which recounts the history of the city of Stirling from its earliest origins through to present day.

Nestling beneath Stirling Castle, in the King’s Park, the ancient hunting grounds of the Stuart monarchs, is the Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum.

The Stirling Smith was founded in 1874 from the bequest of the artist Thomas Stuart Smith (d1869) and is dedicated to the promotion of cultural and historical heritage and the arts, from a local scale to nationally and beyond. The Smith houses many remarkable pieces, including the world’s oldest football (c1540), world’s oldest curling stone (1511), the Stirling Jug (1457), Bannockburn tartans, Wallace and Bruce memorabilia. Scottish history from a Stirling viewpoint including the Jacobite Risings, the 1820 Radical Rising, agricultural improvements, and drawings from the walls of Castlerankine Prisoner of War camp.

The Stirling Smith creates and hosts a wide variety of different exhibitions every year, showcasing many different disciplines including fine art, social history, cultural history and other subjects of local and national interest.

No trip to the Stirling Smith could possibly be complete without a visit to Ailie’s Garden. A popular and acclaimed visitor attraction in its own right, Ailie’s Garden is the culmination of a vast amount of voluntary effort which has resulted in one of the area’s finest sensory and biodiversity gardens.

Visitors can also enjoy the Smith shop and the Gallery Cafe, serving delicious lunches, snacks and a variety of home baking.

The Stirling Smith is a great day out, and regularly hosts events and activities for all ages to enjoy.