Wales, as well as being a beautiful country and tourist attraction packed with seaside resorts, mountains, lakes and forests, is a proud nation in its own right. Nowhere is this more apparent than at St. Fagans National History Museum, a stunning open-air museum, based in and around the grounds of St. Fagans Castle.
St. Fagans National History Museum is located four and a half miles east of CardiffOpens in a new window centre, and has been open to the public since 1948. St. Fagans Castle itself is a 16th century manor house given to the people of Wales by the Earl of Plymouth.
The 100 acres of parkland that surround St. Fagans are now home to 40 historic Welsh buildings that have been rebuilt in their original state. These include St. Teilo’s Church, which was originally constructed between 1100 and 1520 and was shifted to St. Fagans brick by brick.
The décor, furnishings and items of the traditional iron workers’ houses, which date from 1805 to 1985, demonstrate how the lives of workers in Merthyr Tydfil, one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution, changed through the centuries.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of St. Fagans is that it is a truly “working” museum. Craftsmen demonstrate traditional crafts such as clog-making, fabric production and cooking traditional Welsh food. Even better than the chance to see these ancient skills being practised is the fact that you can purchase the results to take home as a souvenir.
Finish your journey back in time by visiting the photography studio and having a sepia photograph taken wearing period costume – an image of the past that you can take back to the present.
