Perth Art Gallery

Perth Art Gallery stands in the centre of Perth, Scotland, partly inside the Marshall Monument. The monument honours Thomas Hay Marshall, a former provost of the city. Its site once held a 12th-century castle built to guard the crossing of the River Tay. A great flood in 1209 swept the castle away while King William I was staying there. The present building began as a library and museum opened in 1824 by the Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth. The gallery is one of the United Kingdom’s oldest purpose-built museums. In 1915 the Society gave it to the city on the condition it remain a library or museum. An extension was added between 1933 and 1935 after large donations of money and paintings. The Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, opened the new part in 1935. The extension once housed natural history collections from the Perthshire Society of Natural Science. Inside, visitors find works by John Duncan Fergusson and Margaret Morris. A long-term loan has brought paintings by John Everett Millais to the gallery. The building itself is a category B listed structure, recognised for its architectural importance. The collection continues to grow through gifts and loans from donors. The gallery remains a place where art and history meet in the heart of Perth.