Press Releases

2003-04 was an extremely successful year for NMGW, seeing the completion of two major projects under its industrial strategy - the redevelopments at Big Pit, Blaenafon and the National Woollen Museum, Dre-fach Felindre. It was also an opportunity to look ahead to the opening of the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea in 2005. Once again, we have succeeded in widening the experiences offered to visitors to our sites.

This was the third year of the 'free entry' policy funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, and once again, the policy was a major success attracting more than 1.2 million visits to our sites across Wales — 64% more than 2000-01, the year before the introduction of free entry.

Amongst the highlights of the year were:

• The launch of the £7.2 million redevelopment at Big Pit: National Mining Museum of Wales.
• Re-opening the National Woollen Museum following a £2.6 million redevelopment.
• Hosting the inaugural Artes Mundi international art prize exhibition.
• The success of the exhibition Thomas Jones: an artist rediscovered at the National Museum & Gallery.

Launching the report, Michael Houlihan, Director General of NMGW said:
"2003-04 was an exceptionally successful year for us as an organisation, but what is important now is that we look forward to an equally successful future.
"Over the next year, we will be looking in detail at our purpose as an organisation and what we can offer visitors across Wales," he added.

For a copy of NMGW's Annual Report, contact any of our sites, or visit our website — Annual Report.