Historic £11.5m investment for St Fagans

  • Wales
More than 40 original buildings from various historical periods in Wales have been re-erected at St Fagans Credit: St Fagans Museum

St Fagans Museum will soon benefit from a £11.5 million investment from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It's the biggest ever grant award in Wales, and it will help the National Museum of Wales develop St Fagans as Wales' National History Museum.

It's part of the 'Making History' project, and it will help St Fagans restore some of its' existing buildings, displays and activities, and create new some ones.

The first phase of the project will see the construction of a multi-purpose building which includes a gallery and activity space, a window to the open air archaeology facilities, and a cafe.

There will also be new galleries and exhibitions, following three main themes. The 'Making Wales' gallery will chart the identities and lives of people over 200,000 years. The 'Ways of Life' gallery will display social and oral history side by side with archaeological collections providing a window into the everyday details of lives past and present. Finally, there will be a 'Making History by Hand' gallery which will be located in a new eco-friendly building.

St Fagans was established in 1948, and was the first open-air museum in the UK. Since then, it has become a national institution, telling the story of how the people of Wales lived and worked over the last 500 years.

The 'Making History' project is a £25 million plan set out by the National Museum of Wales to establish St Fagans as Wales' National History Museum. It's also received support from the Welsh Government who have earmarked £6 million funding for the project.

An artist impression of the redevelopments which could take place Credit: St Fagans Museum

David Anderson is from the National Museum of Wales: