Philanthropy

We are about to say a fond farewell to Dippy the Dinosaur who will be taking a triumphant bow from National Museum Cardiff on 26 January.

Over the course of the past three months, 188,710 people have had the inspiring experience of witnessing, up close and personal, something truly unique - a diplodocus that walked our earth over 155 million years ago. To witness the look on the tens of thousands of children who set their eyes on Dippy as they entered our great hall, free of charge, has been deeply touching.

Dippy is with us today due to the vision of an extraordinary Scottish-American businessman, Andrew Carnegie, yes he of the New York concert hall fame, and who led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late nineteenth century. Carnegie was, and still is, through his Foundation, one of the world’s great philanthropists and benefactors, supporting museums, libraries, education, the arts and science across the globe.

In 1902, over dinner at Carnegie’s Skibo Castle, King Edward VII heard about a dinosaur, which was housed in the Carnegie Pittsburgh Museum. The King persuaded Carnegie to donate a cast of the diplodocus to the Natural History Museum in London as a gift, which was mounted there in 1907, the same year as we opened the doors of Amgueddfa Cymru here in Cardiff.

And now today, Dippy, made possible by Carnegie’s extraordinary lifelong commitment to philanthropy, is touring the UK, capturing the hearts and minds of millions of people, creating a sense of wonder and amazement wherever this dinosaur goes.

This is what Amgueddfa Cymru aims to do - inspire people and change lives for the greater good. This is what makes a partnership with our museums so special for private patrons as well as for businesses. We create relationships with people which transcend the mundane. We create experiences that are visceral, meaningful and long lasting and which are truly transformational. All of us can play a part, great or small, in supporting this noble ambition.

I encourage you all to join us in supporting not only the curation of the past, but the present as well, and with the vision of Carnegie, help shape the future. For more information on how we can work together with you please contact our Development team.