National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff

National Museum Cardiff, Cardiff (must see)

The National Museum Cardiff was founded in 1905 and it was granted a royal charter in 1907. Previous to this time the museum was a sub-department in the Cardiff Library building. The new building in Cathays Park did not open until 1927.

The museum collections include botany, fine art, applied art, geology and zoology. The archeology department is now in Saint Fagan's National Museum of History. The first floor houses Wales' national art; paintings, drawings, sculpture and ceramics.

It has perhaps the best collection of impressionist paintings in the United Kingdom. Masters like Turner, Monet, Rodin and Van Gogh are represented. There are also classical landscapes and the more contemporary works of Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso.

There are collections for natural history and outer space housed in the Evolution of Wales gallery. Meteorites, moon rocks, mammoths and dinosaurs join Welsh animals, birds and insects on display. A humpback whale and the largest leatherback turtle in the world preside over all.

Since 2011 the Close Discovery Center in the museum offers hands-on exhibits of 75 million objects including fossils, insects and weapons.

The Museum is free but donations will not be refused.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Cardiff. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "GPSmyCity: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

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National Museum Cardiff on Map

Sight Name: National Museum Cardiff
Sight Location: Cardiff, Wales (See walking tours in Cardiff)
Sight Type: Museum/Gallery
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Walking Tours in Cardiff, Wales

Create Your Own Walk in Cardiff

Create Your Own Walk in Cardiff

Creating your own self-guided walk in Cardiff is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Shopping Arcades Tour

Shopping Arcades Tour

A city of castles and culture, Cardiff has plenty to entertain those who travel with the shopping bags in tow. The Welsh capital has long been reputed as the "City of Arcades", due to the highest concentration of Victorian, Edwardian and contemporary indoor shopping arcades in the UK. Back in the day, these fascinating, covered pedestrian thoroughfares were designed to enable locals and...  view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 1.1 Km or 0.7 Miles
Cardiff Introduction Walking Tour

Cardiff Introduction Walking Tour

"Cardiff" came from the Welsh word "Caer-Taff" which means "Fort on the river Taff." Cardiff cannot be separated from the Cardiff Castle nor the castle from the city. People had been living in the neighborhood of Cardiff on the banks of the Taff when the Romans arrived and built a fort in 55 AD.

The fortification was strategically located. It was possible to...  view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.8 Km or 1.7 Miles