Don’t just visit history, be part of it!
NEW galleries and historic buildings are now open at St Fagans National Museum of History following a £30 million redevelopment project to transform this much-loved attraction.
Working with 3,000 volunteers, St Fagans has extended the timeline of the history told at the museum. Visitors can now explore the stories of the people of Wales – from the world of a 230,000-year old Neanderthal child to the present day.
Two new galleries in the main building, combining Amgueddfa Cymru’s history and archaeology collections for the first time, discuss and debate how, when and why Wales became a nation and offer insight into different people’s day-to-day lives through the ages.
The gallery, Wales is… offers a window into 230,000 years of human life in Wales.
Its 300 objects and 16 changing stories gives everyone an opportunity to get involved and make history together. Visitors can also join the conversation and share their stories using the hashtags #creuhanes and #makinghistory.
The Life is… gallery tells the stories of over a 1,000 generations. Here you will see how the people of Wales have dressed, eaten, worked, played and died across the ages.
See the dress Sybil Quick wore to a birthday party in 1937; the Dodd family caravan, a home from home for over 50 years; Rhys ap Thomas’s bed, intricately carved 500 years ago, and much more. Nestled in the wood is a new sustainable building dedicated to craft and making. Gweithdy celebrates the skills of generations of craftspeople. Here, you can draw inspiration from the crafts on display in the gallery and try your hand at traditional skills. The dedicated workshop space is the perfect place to learn something new on one of the many courses St Fagans offers from spooncarving to blacksmithing and enamelling.
Llys Llywelyn, a reconstruction of a court of the Princes of Gwynedd, is the latest addition to the historic buildings at the museum. The reconstruction is based on archaeological evidence from Llys Rhosyr on Anglesey. Step inside the Medieval Prince’s Court and see how Llywelyn the Great would have lived, feasted and ruled 800 years ago.
Llys Llywelyn is the second building at the museum to be constructed based on archaeological evidence. Bryn Eryr, an Iron Age farmstead, opened to the public in 2016. Here, you can experience life as it would have been in the Iron Age.
The St Fagans redevelopment project is possible thanks to generous support from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Welsh Government and other supporters.
■ Entry to St Fagans National Museum of History is free. The museum is open seven days a week from 10am to 5pm. Visit https:// museum.wales/stfagans for more.