Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum – formerly The Smith Institute – has played a very special part in the history of Stirling since its foundation in 1874. Established by the bequest of artist Thomas Stuart Smith (1815–1869) on land supplied by the Burgh of Stirling, it is an historic public-private partnership which has continued to the present day. It was founded as a gallery of mainly contemporary art, with museum and library reading room ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of Stirling, Dunblane and Kinbuck’.
Ernest Zmeták Art Gallery
The museum was established on 1 January 1979 by a local painter, Ernest Zmeták, who was the most significant collector of artworks in Slovakia in the 2nd half of the 20th century, and his wife, art historian Danica Zmetákova. At first it was housed temporarily on the second floor of the City Hall where the first permanent exhibition was opened on November 21 1980. It was moved in 2003 into the former Craftsmen Association Building on 1 Björnsonova Street where the new permanent exhibitions were opened in March and June 2004.