An extraordinary year! One year on since closing the National Slate Museum temporarily for redevelopment!

It's been an extraordinary twelve months for the National Slate Museum Redevelopment Project. 

Since we temporarily closed our doors in November 2024, the team has undertaken the incredible feat of preparing the museum for redevelopment. 

We've been successful with a hugely ambitious £12m grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This, together with the investment from our other supporters, has finally enabled us to realise the full ambition of the project.  

We've safely packaged  and moved our collections to their temporary home at Llandygai Collections Centre and we've appointed MPH Ltd as lead contractor and started the exciting and highly specialised work of conservation and repair on site. 

During the enabling works phase, we've seen the demolition of the old shop and café buildings in preparation for the new developments on site. It has been incredible to see these parts of the site temporarily returned to how they looked when the workshops were in operation.

Our staff and collections have taken the museum experience beyond the museum walls into partner locations across the World Heritage Site with our ambitious 'Museum on the Move' campaign. Some of our staff are located at the Quarry Hospital here in Llanberis where we've introduced a new Museum character - Margaret the Matron!  Our slate quarrymen have made themselves at home in their temporary location at Penrhyn Castle, a powerful and symbolic moment for the story of slate and its place in the history of our local communities here in northwest Wales. Our Blacksmith meanwhile has a space at Crefft Migldi Magldi in the slate quay in Caernarfon working alongside another young Blacksmith. 

We've also been working very hard on designs for some of the key areas for reinterpretation in the Museum which has been very exciting. 

Below is a list of some of the things that have taken place thanks to the dedication of our extraordinary team and wider partners. 

• 123 people attended our Silent Spaces Tours of the Museum before closing. 
• 27,643 people have visited our semi-permanent locations
• We’ve been to 19 community events where we’ve met and engaged with 1068 people. 
• 1,115 children have enjoyed our digital and in person Learning activities including the Quarryman’s Day, the waterwheel challenge and 'Strike!' 
• We used 1,734 cable ties to label all the original nails in the walls of the Museum. 
• 165 objects have been boxed up at the Museum to protect them from damage.
• We've packed away 13,208 objects to our new collections centre in Llandygai by 
• The collections team have hosted 13 visits to the Llandygai Collections Centre and provided guided tours to 119 people.

It feels like a good time to pause, reflect and celebrate what we have achieved over the last year but the pace of the project shows no signs of slowing! 

Over the next two years we will continue to evolve the visitor experience on site including the exhibitions that will define a truly world-class gateway to the world heritage site of the Slate Landscapes of North-West Wales alongside our partners across this special region. Watch this space!