The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum occupies a Victorian building in the lower town, endowed in 1873 by the bequest of a local artist, Thomas Stuart Smith. Free to enter, it is a genuinely good local museum with a broad and somewhat eclectic collection: local history from prehistoric times through to the industrial era, a fine art collection with strengths in Scottish painting, and the usual mixture of decorative arts and natural history specimens that characterises Victorian civic collections at their best.
The fine art collection includes several notable Scottish painters, including work by the Glasgow Boys and some earlier portraits of local worthies. The social history section covers Stirling's role as a key node in Scottish commerce and conflict, with objects relating to the wool trade, the brewing industry (Stirling was historically an important brewing town), and the various conflicts that have shaped the region. The ground floor café is reasonably good and provides a restful stop after the castle.
Admission free. Open Tuesday to Sunday, with seasonal variations.