Aberdeen Art Gallery

Following a competition, the winning design by Alexander Marshall Mackenzie and James Matthews began construction in 1883 and was opened in 7 July 1885. There were further additions, again by Mackenzie, in 1901 and 1905, including the addition of a sculpture court. In October 2020, Aberdeen Art Gallery was named one of the five winners of the 2020 ArtFund Museum of the Year Award. ArtFund increased the prize money to £200,000 and changed the format of the award to five winners in response to the challenges faced by the museum sector during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The central hall is supported by granite columns in a variety of colours, derived from different quarries in the local area and far beyond. At the western end of the building, with a room inside and a monument outside, is a major war memorial. The war memorial was built in the 1920s as a part of the rapid expansion of the Aberdeen Art Gallery and was funded by a public subscription. The Memorial Court court has a display of several books of remembrance and rolls of honour, commemorating the fallen of World War I, World War II, the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets in World War II, and from conflicts after 1945. Another addition to the Gallery during this time of rapid expansion was Cowdray…