Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

"National Museum of Wales" redirects here. For the organisation's main site, known historically as the National Museum of Wales, see National Museum Cardiff.

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales,^[2][3] branded as simply Amgueddfa Cymru (formerly the National Museums and Galleries of Wales and legally National Museum of Wales),^[4] is a Welsh Government sponsored body that comprises seven museums in Wales:

• National Museum Cardiff – formerly the National Museum of Wales
• St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff
• Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon
• National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre near Llandysul
• National Slate Museum, Llanberis
• National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon
• National Waterfront Museum, Swansea

Logo used since August 2022^[1]

Cardiff

Blaenavon

Nantgarw

Dre-fach Felindre

Llanberis

Caerleon

Swansea

St David's

The locations of the branches of (and other sites connected to) Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

Previous National Museum Wales logo used until August 2022

Poster by the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion suggesting the formation of a National Museum of Wales, June 1876.

In addition to these sites, the organisation runs Oriel y Parc, a gallery of Welsh landscape art in St David's, in partnership with the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority.^[5] The National Collections Centre in Nantgarw is AC-NMW's storage facility.

Directors of the National Museum of Wales

• William Evans Hoyle (1908–1924)
• Sir Mortimer Wheeler (1925–1926)
• Sir Cyril Fox (1926–1948)
• D. Dilwyn John (1948–1968)
• Gwyn Jones (1968–1977)
• Douglas Bassett (1977–1985)
• David W. Dykes (1986–1989)
• Alastair Wilson (1989–1993)
• Colin Ford (1993–1998)
• Anna Southall (1998–2002)^[6]
• Michael Houlihan (2003–2010)^[7]
• David Anderson (2010–)^[8][9]

Visitor numbers

In 2017 over 1.89m visitors attended the National Museum sites. The most popular site for 2017 was St. Fagans and in 2016 the most popular attraction was National Museum Cardiff.

Museum visitor numbers^[10]

Museum	Visitor numbers (2017)	Image
St Fagans National Museum of History	553,090
National Museum Cardiff	539,550
National Waterfront Museum	268,622
National Slate Museum	145,969
Big Pit National Coal Museum	141,969
National Roman Legion Museum	70,021
National Wool Museum	36,909
Source: Visits to Tourist Attractions in Wales 2017[10]

Notes

1. "Amgueddfa Cymru unveils rebranding". Museums Association. 2 August 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
2. "About Us". Museum Wales. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
3. "Tattoo artist Jessie Knight celebrated at Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales". BBC News. 12 March 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
4. "NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES - Charity 525774". register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2022.
5. Oriel y Parc, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, retrieved 9 August 2015^{[permanent dead link]}
6. National Museum of Wales (2007). Amgueddfa Cymru = National Museum Wales : celebrating the first 100 years. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales. p. 182. ISBN 978-0-7200-0583-7. OCLC 181372070.
7. Price, Karen (13 January 2010), "National Museum Wales director Michael Houlihan takes up post in New Zealand", WalesOnline, retrieved 12 August 2015
8. "New director general for National Museum Wales", BBC News, 12 July 2010, retrieved 12 August 2015
9. Director General, National Museum Wales, retrieved 2 September 2018
10. "Visits to tourist attractions in Wales 2017" (PDF). Visit Wales. Retrieved 7 September 2018.^{[permanent dead link]}

Further reading

• Rhiannon Mason, Museums, Nations, Identities: Wales and its National Museums, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 2007, 256 p. ISBN 0708319726

External links

• Media related to Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website