Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales Explained

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales,^{[1] [2]} branded as simply Amgueddfa Cymru (formerly the National Museums and Galleries of Wales and legally National Museum of Wales),^[3] 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

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. 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)^[4]
• Michael Houlihan (2003–2010)
• David Anderson (2010–)

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^[5]

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

Further reading

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: About Us . 2022-08-03 . Museum Wales . en.
2. News: Tattoo artist Jessie Knight celebrated at Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales . 2023-04-19 . BBC News . 12 March 2023 . en.
3. Web site: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WALES - Charity 525774 . 2022-08-03 . register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk . en-GB.
4. Book: National Museum of Wales . Amgueddfa Cymru = National Museum Wales : celebrating the first 100 years. . National Museum of Wales . Cardiff . 2007 . 978-0-7200-0583-7 . 181372070 . 182.
5. Web site: Visits to tourist attractions in Wales 2017. Visit Wales. 7 September 2018.