Press Releases

The museum has been working on its Vision for the past two years, with Director General, Michael Houlihan leading the work. Last year, the museum consulted publicly on the contents of the Vision with visitors, friends, supporters and peer groups. The events held over the next few weeks will be an opportunity for those who took part in the consultation to hear how our plans will develop over the next few years.

We are organising three events in the Cardiff area during June which will all include an introduction to the Vision followed by a lively debate on one of three topics, central to the Vision itself.

A National History Museum: Who Needs it? is the topic of the first session held at St Fagans: National History Museum, Thursday 16 June from 4.00–7.30pm. A panel of distinguished speakers - including renowned historian Professor Prys Morgan, Glenn Jordan (Director of the Butetown History & Arts Centre) and Dr. David Clarke (Keeper of Archaeology at the National Museums of Scotland) - will be discussing the construction of national and personal identities and histories and how such complex issues might be represented through the development of a National History Museum for Wales.

The theme of the second session held at National Museum Cardiff, from 3.30-7.00pm on Tuesday 27 June, is Global Issues: Global Museums? The panel will discuss the role of natural history collections in the Museum of the 21st Century. How might they be utilised to raise visitors' awareness of the growing threats to our shared environment and how can the knowledge inherent in these collections contribute to research and development in the wider academic and public sphere?

The arts and cultural heritage will be the theme on Thursday 29 June, from 4.30-8.00pm at National Museum Cardiff, when a panel including Edmund de Waal (potter, writer and curator) and Philippa Glanville (recently retired as Academic Director of Waddesdon Manor, the Rothschild Collection) will be discuss the art museum of the future and whether forms of art are influenced by the museum spaces they will inhabit, or whether museums evolve as a result of developments in the art forms that they display. This session is titled Future Museums: Future Forms?

A session will also be held at the National Slate Museum in Llanberis on 21 July, when a panel of experts will discuss in general the role of the museum in the 21st century, touching on all three topics discussed at the other events.

If you would like to be part of the audience at any one of these events, contact Kay Hanson at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales on 029 2057 3328, or email rsvp@museumwales.ac.uk. Places are very limited, so advance booking is necessary.

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales administers seven national museums across Wales. They are National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans: National History Museum, National Roman Legion Museum, Caerleon, Big Pit: National Coal Museum, Blaenafon, National Wool Museum, Dre-fach Felindre, National Slate Museum, Llanberis and the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales celebrates its centenary in 2007. For more details, go to our

Entry to all Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales sites is free, thanks to the support of the Welsh Assembly Government.

Notes for Editors

For more information, contact Gwenllïan Carr, Head of Press and Public Relations, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales – 07974 205 849.