The National Gallery of Scotland was closed by a security staff strike, while only the ground floors of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, the Scottish Portrait Gallery and the Dean Gallery were open.

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"A whole new world opened up with the introduction of acrylics and canvas -- the changing of materials let their creativity just really open up, " said Adrian Mibus, director of Whitford Fine Art gallery in London, which is currently holding a selling exhibition of Aboriginal art.

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The city's main citadel today houses a contemporary art gallery, Galerie Borj, and the city's southern gates open onto a stretch of sandy beach.

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While the house is not scheduled to reopen as an art gallery for another two years, the parkland and empty galleries will be open for the public from two weeks on Saturday.

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