Perth Museum and Art Gallery


Perth Museum and Art Gallery is the main museum and exhibition space in the city of Perth, Scotland. It is located in the Marshall Monument, named in memory of Thomas Hay Marshall, a former provost of Perth.

History

The Marshall Monument was designed by David Morison. Construction began in 1822 and it was opened as a library and museum by the Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth in 1824. 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.
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 opened in 1935 by Duke and Duchess of York, 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 another museum in the city.
It was made a category B listed building in May 1965.

The museum's collection

The museum collection includes the South Corston fragment of the Strathmore meteorite and the mummy of a woman named Ta-kr-hb.