What are museums for?

This is a question all museums are asking themselves today and Neil MacGregor, former Director of the British Museum recently completed a radio series on this very topic. (BBC Sounds)
 
I thought of that today when we sat in the Smith museum and art gallery in Stirling for Sunday lunch.
 
We were the only people eating apart from a family of three at the next table.
 
Later we checked out the rest of the museum. While David Mach’s sculpture “Tunnoch Teackake” Tiger dominates the main gallery and makes a striking addition we saw less than a handful of people all the time we were there.
 
The Smith museum and gallery in Stirling has sadly become a shadow of its former self. This is so disappointing.  Maybe it’s the after effect of Covid and people are still not confident enough to go out and about again. The official explanation is lack of finance and the local paper carried a big spared this week advertising for volunteers to help run it.

“What are museums for” Neil McGregor, BBC Sounds