THE NATIONAL MUSEUM AND GALLERY OF CARDIFF

There are lots of wonderful museums and galleries all over the world. Their treasures collections are marvelous and make up the cultural inheritance of our planet. If you happen to be in Wales you will certainly want to visit the National Museum and Gallery of Cardiff in elegant, white-stoned Civic Centre. Alongside with the Cardiff Castle this remarkable building in neoclassical style is worth visiting. It was decided to choose Cardiff as the home for the National Museum of Wales in 1907. The foundation stone was laid in 1912 and the museum started working in 1927. The five main sections that reflect the layout of the museum are: Art, Natural History, Archaeology, The Evolution of Wales, Man and the Environment.

The museum visitors can’t help admiring its splendid art collection. This part is the biggest and the most wonderful of the museum. It comprises the finest Old Masters canvases, as well as the brilliant works by Cezanne, Monet, Renoir, etc. People have a chance to get acquainted with the local Welsh painters and to see the growing 20^th century collection. The Welsh porcelains and other works of applied arts in Wales are displayed in numerous halls that are called galleries. The collection also includes sculptures by Rodin, Epstein and Moore. In the National Gallery fine and applied art objects are exhibited together. Unique works of Medieval and Renaissance art, French and Italian art of the 17th century, British Portraits and Northern European Art ,1550 - 1700, British and Italian Art in the 18 th century, French Realism, French Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Symbolism, British Art, Abstraction to Neo - Romanticism and so on - these all are on show in the 16 galleries of the 1st floor.

Thanks to the masterly recreated environments, The Natural History gallery allows you to take a journey through Wales and get to know more about its unique plant and animal life.

Extremely interesting is the section dedicated to archaeology. It provides us with the knowledge about archaeology and history of Wales from the ancient times. Prehistoric Wales, Roman Wales, Wales in the Middle Ages as well as Coins and Medals Collection fill the Mezzanine of the Museum.

The section called Man and Environment offers us to glimpse the life of a wide range of creations of our planet and man’s impact upon them.

The building of Cardiff’s National Museum and Gallery is part of the wider network of National Museums and Galleries of Wales.