Established | 1824 |
---|---|
Location | 78 George Street Perth, Scotland |
Architect | David Morison |
Perth Art Gallery is the principal art gallery and exhibition space in the city of Perth, Scotland. It is located partly in the Marshall Monument, named in memory of Thomas Hay Marshall, a former provost of Perth. [1]
The building was formerly known as Perth Museum and Art Gallery, ceasing to be so in anticipation of the new Perth Museum opening within Perth City Hall. [2]
The museum's location was formerly the site of a late 12th-century motte and bailey castle, built in 1160 to protect the Tay crossing. A great flood in 1209 washed the castle away. The King, William I, was staying in it at the time and had to escape with his wife and entourage by boat to Scone. [3]
The Marshall Monument was designed by David Morison and sculpted by John Cochrane and Brothers. [4]
Construction began in 1822, and it was opened as a library and museum by the Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth in 1824. [1] [5] It is one of the United Kingdom's oldest purpose-built museums, and in 1915 it was gifted to the city by the Society on the condition that it was continued to be used only as a library or museum. [1]
After large donations of money and paintings were bequeathed to the museum, an extension was planned for the building. In 1930 an architecture competition took place and was judged by Sir James John Burnett, a Scottish architect. A Perth firm, Smart, Stewart & Mitchell, won and the extension was begun with the laying of the foundation stone by lord provost Thomas Dempster on 2 December 1932. [6] Work continued between 1933 and 1935, [7] and it was opened on 10 August 1935 by the Duke and Duchess of York, [6] the future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. This extension housed the donated paintings as well as the Natural History collections of Perthshire Society of Natural Science which had previously been held at its museum at 62–72 Tay Street. [1]
It was made a category B listed building in May 1965. [8]
The museum collection includes the South Corston fragment of the Strathmore meteorite and the mummy of a woman named Ta-Kr-Hb. [9] [10]
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west.
Perth is a centrally located Scottish city, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and is the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population of about 47,430 in 2018.
Abernethy is a village and former burgh in the Perth and Kinross council area and historic county of Perthshire, in the east central Lowlands of Scotland. The village is situated in rural Strathearn, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of the city of Perth, near the River Earn's confluence with the River Tay and on the northern edge of the Ochil Hills.
Alyth is a town in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, five miles northeast of Blairgowrie and about 17 miles northwest of Dundee. In 2016 the town had an estimated population of 2,400.
Aberfeldy is a burgh in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, on the River Tay. A small market town, Aberfeldy is located in Highland Perthshire. It was mentioned by Robert Burns in the poem The Birks Of Aberfeldy and in the Ed Sheeran song The Hills of Aberfeldy.
Elcho Castle is located close to the south bank of the River Tay approximately four miles south-east of Perth, Scotland, in the region of Perth and Kinross. It was maintained by Clan Wemyss from its construction around 1560 until it was put into the care of the Secretary of State for Scotland in the early 20th century, though was not occupied for the entire time. In around 1830 it was re-roofed and a nearby cottage constructed. The castle has been a scheduled monument since 1920 on the grounds of being "a particularly fine example of a Medieval tower-house", and the cottage became a listed building in 1971 in recognition of its national importance. The castle is unusual in that it has both en suite guest accommodation like a mansion, but also a large number of gun loops.
Meigle is a village in Strathmore, Scotland. It lies in the council area of Perth and Kinross in the Coupar Angus and Meigle ward. It lies on the A94 road between Perth and Forfar.The A94 used to be the main route between Aberdeen and Perth. Other smaller settlements nearby are Balkeerie, Kirkinch and Kinloch. Meigle is accessed from the north and south via the B954 road. In 1971 it had a population of 357.
Perth City Hall is a civic building in King Edward Street, Perth, Scotland. Built in 1914, it is a Category B listed building.
The Municipal Buildings are a municipal facility at Nos. 1, 3 and 5 High Street, Perth, Scotland. The facility is a Category B listed building.
Perth Lade is a historic 4.5-mile (7.2 km)-long former mill lade in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Created in the 11th century or earlier, it has been used to power several watermills, such as those that functioned at Perth's Lower City Mills, which have existed since the 18th century. Over its course, at least nineteen industrial sites existed; today, the remains of nine of these can be seen, the rest lost to inner-city development and housing schemes of the 20th and 21st centuries. A footpath follows the majority of the lade's course.
Thomas Hay Marshall was twice lord provost of Perth, Scotland. With a passion for Georgian architecture, Marshall is credited with building Perth's "new town" to the north and south of the city centre.
The vennels of Perth are a collection of small medieval streets in the city of Perth, Scotland. Similar to York's Snickelways, vennels are a public right-of-way passageway between the gables of buildings which can, in effect, be a minor street. In Scotland, the term originated in royal burghs created in the twelfth century, the word deriving from the Old French word venelle meaning "alley" or "lane". Unlike a tenement entry to private property, known as a "close", a vennel was a public way leading from a typical high street to the open ground beyond the burgage plots. The Latin form is venella, related to the English word "funnel".
Tay Street is a street, part of the A989, in the Scottish city of Perth, Perth and Kinross. Planned in 1806 and completed around 1885, it is named for the River Tay, Scotland's longest river, on the western banks of which it sits. The street runs from the confluence of West Bridge Street and Charlotte Street in the north to a roundabout at Marshall Place and Shore Road in the south. Three of the city's four bridges that cross the Tay do so in this stretch : Perth Bridge, Queen's Bridge and the single-track Tay Viaduct, carrying Perth and Dundee trains to and from Perth railway station, located 0.5 miles (0.80 km) to the north-west.
The A. K. Bell Library is an historic building on York Place in Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. The building was originally a hospital before becoming a municipal building and later a library. The central section of the building is Category A listed. The lodge to the estate, now removed from its original location, is Category B listed.
High Street is a street and the primary retail area of the Scottish city of Perth. Established in at least the 15th century, its central section has been both modernised and pedestrianised, while its two ends are mainly Victorian in terms of their composite buildings. It runs for about 0.5 miles (0.80 km), from Tay Street in the east to Caledonian Road in the west.
Magnus Jackson was a Scottish landscape photographer from Perth. He was noted for his use of the collodion process in developing his photographic film. He left around 2,500 glass photographic negatives taken in Perth and the surrounding area between the late 1850s and 1890. These are now on permanent display at Perth Museum and Art Gallery.
Marshall Place is a prominent street in the Scottish city of Perth, Perth and Kinross. Commissioned in 1801, and today part of the A989, the Perth Inner Ring Road, it runs for about 0.23 miles (0.37 km), from a roundabout it shares with Tay Street and Shore Road in the east to a convergence with King's Place in the west.
Thomas Anderson was an extensive landowner in Perth, Scotland, in the 18th century. Along with Thomas Hay Marshall, his son-in-law and future lord provost of Perth, he was responsible for the construction of much of Georgian Perth.
Ta-Kr-Hb is a female mummy who was donated to the Perth Museum and Art Gallery in Scotland in 1936, believed to be the remains of a princess or priestess of Thebes. The remains are estimated to be up to 2,700 or around 3000 years old. The name of the mummy 'Ta-Kr-Hb' and her status as a princess were revealed by the hieroglyphs on the lid of her coffin.
Perthshire Society of Natural Science (PSNS) is one of the oldest scientific societies in Scotland, having been established in 1867. Under its parent body, it has four sections covering botany, ornithology, archaeology and history and photography.