St Fagans National Museum of History

The museum was founded in 1946 following the donation of the castle and lands by the Earl of Plymouth. It opened its doors to the public in 1948, under the name of the Welsh Folk Museum. The museum's name in Welsh (also meaning "Welsh Folk Museum") has remained unchanged since that date, whereas the English title was revised to Museum of Welsh Life, thereafter St Fagans National History Museum, and again to its current title. The brainchild of Iorwerth Peate, the museum was modelled on Skansen, the outdoor museum of vernacular Swedish architecture in Stockholm. Most structures re-erected in Skansen were built of wood and are thus easily taken apart and reassembled, but a comparable museum in Wales was going to be more ambitious, as much of the vernacular architecture of Wales is made of masonry. The six-year, £30-million redevelopment of the site, which was funded by a number of sources, notably the Welsh Government and the National Lottery, was completed in October 2018. The £30-million redevelopment project provided many benefits, including three new galleries showcasing Wales’ history, improvements to buildings such as the Iron Age farmstead, Bryn Eryr, and Medieval Prince's court and Llys Llywelyn, as well as a refurbished main entrance building and a new restaurant, play area and learning spaces. One of the new buildings, the Gweithdy ('workshop'), features Stone Age tools and stick chairs. In June 2019, St Fagans was named UK's Museum of the Year 2019 by the Art Fund, which commended the facility's "exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement". ==Buildings and exhibits==

The museum comprises more than forty buildings representing the architecture of Wales, a village schoolhouse, a toll road tollbooth (below), a cockpit (below), a pigsty (below), and a tannery (below). A relocation of the historic Vulcan public house from Newtown in Cardiff to St Fagans was completed in May 2024. Although the museum was intended to preserve aspects of Welsh rural life, it now includes several buildings that depict the industrial working life that succeeded it, that being almost extinct in Wales. There is a row of workers' cottages, depicting furnishing from 1800 to 1985, from Rhyd-y-car near Merthyr Tydfil (below), as well as the pristine Oakdale Workmen's Institute. A post-war prefabricated bungalow (below) represents later domestic lifestyles. From 1996 to 2012, the museum hosted the Everyman Summer Theatre Festival when it re-located from Dyffryn Gardens. This festival, which includes a Shakespeare play, a musical, and a children's show, has become part of the Welsh theatrical calendar since its founding at Dyffryn in 1983. Scenes from the Doctor Who episodes "Human Nature" and "The Family of Blood" were filmed at the museum. Based on archaeological findings, a reconstruction of Llys Rhosyr, a thirteenth-century court of the princes of Gwynedd, was completed and opened to the public in October 2018. Called Llys Llewelyn ('Llewelyn's Court'), it was opened with the intention that schoolchildren would be able to stay in the buildings overnight, from spring 2019. The Gweithdy ('Workshop'), a sustainable building designed by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, was first opened in July 2017; a café was later added. The new gallery was opened in October 2018, housing improved facilities for visitors while supporting the study of collections and hosting demonstrations and workshops by traditional craftsmen. List of structures Minor exhibits File:Ty-bach at St Fagans - geograph.org.uk - 631983.jpg|Tŷ-Bach (Little House). Toilet in the garden of Rhyd-y-Car ironworkers' cottages File:Former Cardiff refreshment kiosk in St Fagans National History Museum, Cardiff 4591725 7325fd9f.jpg|A Cardiff refreshment kiosk File:Siop Losin (2).jpg|Siop Losin (sweet shop), previously Moss-Vernon's Portrait Studio File:Milestone and farmhouse, St Fagans National Museum of History - geograph.org.uk - 6871102.jpg|Mile post from Bridgend File:Telephone kiosk at St Fagans National Museum of History - geograph.org.uk - 2003677.jpg|Red telephone box File:Victorian pillarbox outside St Fagans National History Museum - geograph.org.uk - 4591652.jpg|Victorian pillarbox ==St Fagans National Museum of History years==

• St Fagans In January 2011 (January 2011) ==Future developments==

• The rebuilding of the Victorian police station from Taff's Well, Rhondda Cynon Taf. • In 2012 it was announced that Raglan railway station would be rebuilt at the museum. ==See also==