Museums play significant role in a cultural live of every nation. Hans Haacke called museums “managers of consciousness”. He explained, “museums give us the interpretation of history, of how to view the world and locate ourselves in it” (Leeuwen et al., 2013). I, personally, agree with this citation. Especially it is true for such nations as Welsh who are trying to identify themselves while being a part of Great Britain.
Cardiff, as a capital of a state, performs as a cultural center of the nation with great amount of cultural sightseeing including museums. National Museum of Cardiff is a part of the National Museum of Wales which consists of:
National Museum Cardiff;
St Fagans: National History Museum, Cardiff;
Big Pit National Coal Museum, Blaenavon;
National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre near Llandysul;
National Slate Museum, Llanberis;
National Roman Legionary Museum, Caerleon;
National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.
National Museum Cardiff was founded in 1905. At the beginning of its history, the museum shared the same building with Cardiff Liabrary. In 1912, the construction of a new building for the museum began. Unfortunately, World War Second prevented the museum move to a new location in Cathays Park. This happened only in 1922. The contemporary building of the museum – Figure 1 ( Britain Explorer) - is attractive both from inside and outside.Nowadays the museum “houses Wales’s national art, geology and natural history collections as well as major touring and temporary exhibitions” (Museum Wales). Welsh Government sponsors National Museum and the entrance is free for all the visitors.
Figure 1 – National Museum Cardiff
National Museum Cardiff attracts the audience of different tastes and age because at their disposal the museum offers wide range of exhibitions: from dinosaurs to Impressionists works. The Evolution of Wales exhibition depicts “a 4,600 million-year voyage accompanied by meteorites, moon rock and fossils on a journey bringing you face to face with dinosaurs and woolly mammoths” (Museum Wales). The usage of technology – sound and light accompaniment, film screening – makes this exhibition very attractive and spectacular. This is the favorite place for children who are always impressed by mammoths and dinosaurs skeletons. For this reason, most local schools often conduct Natural Science lessons in the museum. One more exiting exhibition is Natural History. Many habitants from both seashore and woodland are presented there. Among them are Basking Shark, Humpback Whale ( a 9m skeleton) and of course the largest Leatherback Turtle – record-holder from the Guinness Book. Those, who prefer to admire pieces of art may, visit “one of Europe’s best collections of Impressionists works” (Museum Wales). This fact represents additional reason to be pride for native citizens.
National Museum Cardiff is proud of its native artists and Maecenas who supported art. Wales was always small country that did not have its own painting schools and opportunities for artist to grow. Nevertheless, the Museum offers works of native Welsh to admire. For example, VAN HERWIJK, Steven (c.1530-c.1565) by William Herbert; JONES, Thomas (1742 – 1803) “The Bard”; Anton Raphael (1728 – 1779) “Richard Wilson” and many others. More attention deserves the work of William Goscombe John, “Merlin and Arthur”, 1902 – Figure 2 (Museum Wales). The legend of Merlin and King Arthur is a well-known not only in Great Britain but also all over the world. The sculpture by William Goscombe links the past and the present through the art and gives the legend a visual form.
Figure 2: “Merlin and Arthur”, 1902.
References
Britain Explorer. NATIONAL MUSEUM CARDIFF – WALES. [online] Available at: http://britainexplorer.com/listing/national-museum-cardiff-wales/ [Accessed 4 May 2016].
Leeuwen, T., Kriegsman, L., Tol, J. and Schokenbroek, J., 2013. The changing role of museums in the global scientific landscape. Leiden University, 132-145.
Museum Wales. Highlights: National Museum Cardiff. [online] Available at: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/cardiff/about/ [Accessed 4 May 2016].
Museum Wales. Goscombe John and 'The New Sculpture': National Museum Cardiff. [online] Available at: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/cardiff/art/impressionist-modern/goscombe-john/ [Accessed 4 May 2016].
