Culture Perth and Kinross have announced the current Perth Museum and Art Gallery will be transformed into Perth Art Gallery in 2023.

The newly refreshed Art Gallery will allow more works of art from local, Scottish, and international artists to be displayed than ever before. As part of the refresh, Perth Art Gallery will become the new home to the Fergusson Collection from Spring next year, allowing more space to display works and greater accessibility.

The beloved social and natural history items on display will be carefully preserved and packed to be displayed in the new Perth Museum at City Hall, opening in Spring 2024. The combination of the new Perth Museum and refreshed Perth Art Gallery will more than double the current display space available in Perth for the public to enjoy.

The two institutions will complement each other to enable a richer and more inclusive exploration of the region’s past, present, and future. Perth Art Gallery will focus on modern Scots through the development of art and design in the region up to the present day. At the same time, Perth Museum will tell the story of Perth & Kinross’ ancient roots through social and natural history with the iconic Stone of Destiny, also known as the Stone of Scone, at its heart.

Some gallery spaces will close to the public before the annual Christmas closure at 5pm on Friday, 23 December.

The natural history exhibition space, Wild and Wonderful, home of the fantastic taxidermy and geology collection and the Social History Gallery, known as Beginnings: The Story of Perth and Kinross, will close to the public from 4pm on Sunday, 11 December.

Behind the scenes, staff will be working hard to transform the space into the new Perth Art Gallery, featuring a world-class collection of works from local, Scottish, and international artists.

Objects on display in these galleries will be packed and conserved for redisplay in the new Perth Museum in 2024.

The temporary exhibitions, Are You Going to the Dancing?, and A Lost Community: Muirton of Ardblair, will close on Sunday, 18 December, at 4pm. The Museum shop, coffee bar, and toilets will remain open as usual until the Christmas closure at 5pm on 23 December.

The museum will host a holiday-themed Family Fun Day on Saturday, 10 December, from 1.30pm to 3.30pm. Pop along with the family to tour the galleries one last time before Spring, enjoy some seasonal crafts and activities, Christmas shopping, and a hot drink from the coffee bar.

Rhona Corbett, Head of Heritage and Culture at Culture Perth and Kinross, said, “This is an exciting time for this popular venue with the move to becoming Perth Art Gallery in the spring. Whilst this is a big change for our visitors, we hope that they will be encouraged to visit in the run-up to Christmas to do some last-minute shopping, as well grabbing a cup of coffee or spending time with little visitors in the Messy Museum space which was designed for curious minds. During the gallery closure, our staff will be packing up the museum collection ahead of the move to the new Perth Museum, currently being developed in the City Hall, and reinterpreting the fine art collections for visitors to enjoy when we welcome them back in the spring.”

Perth Art Gallery will be open in the new year from Friday to Monday, beginning 6 January. The galleries will remain closed, but the popular family area Messy Museum will remain open, as well as the shop, coffee bar and toilets. A programme of lunchtime lectures and family events are also planned; please visit bit.ly/cpkmusevents for more details.

All galleries in the new Perth Art Gallery are due to reopen in the Spring of 2023.