Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum, formerly The Smith Institute, is an art and local history museum in Stirling, Scotland. The museum was founded in 1874 at the bequest of artist Thomas Stuart Smith. History Founding Thomas Stuart Smith's uncle, Alexander Smith, supplied funding so that Smith could travel and paint in Italy starting in 1840. By the end of that decade, Smith's work was accepted by both the Salon des Beaux Arts in Paris and the Royal Academy in London. In 1849, Alexander Smith died and eventually Smith's new inheritance enabled him to create an art collection at a studio in Fitzroy Square that included his own work. Smith decided to create an institute in Stirling to house his new collection. He drew up plans for a library, museum, and reading room. He signed the trust into existence in November 1869 along with trustees James Barty, the Provost of Stirling, and A. W. Cox, a fellow artist. Smith was prevented however from seeing his plans fulfilled as he died the next month in Avignon.When the Smith site was selected, it was not in an advantageous part of the burgh. 1,400 people signed a petition pointing this out. The building was the second to be built on the north side of the Dumbarton Road, in the King's Park, which was under development as an up-market residential area. The King's Park was cut off from the old town by the medieval wall. It remained unconnected until a new vehicular road was driven through at the Corn Exchange when a Carnegie Library was built in 1904. There was no direct road to the Smith. The pathway from the High School of Stirling (now the Stirling Highland Hotel) was created as a main access route to the Smith only after the Institute was opened to the public. The issue of breaching the medieval wall was one which was traditionally opposed by the people of Stirling. The autocratic way in which the site was selected and the extinction of the hope for a museum facility in the old town was deeply resented. The Smith Institute first opened to the public on 11 August 1874. It was an occasion for great celebration in Stirling: the shops in the town closed at noon to allow people to attend the opening. At the opening ceremony, Provost Christie refuted criticism of the location by pointing out that a