Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales

Amgueddfa Cymru (Museum Wales), the national museum group for Wales, running seven free museums from Cardiff to Llanberis and Swansea.

About Amgueddfa Cymru - Museum Wales

Amgueddfa Cymru, in English Museum Wales, runs the seven national museums of Wales. Its collections cover natural history (over six million specimens on Wikipedia's account), archaeology, art, and the industrial heritage of coal mining, slate and wool. The art collection includes Welsh works from the 16th century onwards and an Impressionist collection built largely from a bequest by the Davies sisters. The museum group says it holds over five million collection items and welcomes about 1.8 million visitors a year, with free entry to all sites.

The museum was founded by Royal Charter, granted by King Edward VII on 19 March 1907. The charter aimed to illustrate Wales's geology, mineralogy, zoology, botany, ethnography, archaeology, art, history and special industries. The main building in Cardiff opened to the public on 28 October 1922. The current vision, adopted in 2015, is "Inspiring people, changing lives". Its stated purpose is to inspire people through its museums and collections to find well-being and identity, to learn bilingually, and to understand Wales's place in the world. In 2022 it adopted its Welsh name as its main brand, saying this reflected pride in the language.

The seven museums are the National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans National Museum of History near Cardiff, Big Pit National Coal Museum in Blaenavon, the National Wool Museum at Dre-fach Felindre in Carmarthenshire, the National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon, the National Slate Museum in Llanberis in Snowdonia, and the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea. It also has a National Collections Centre near Cardiff and a gallery partnership at Oriel y Parc in St Davids. So the jobs are spread across south, west and north Wales. The Welsh Government sponsors the organisation, and Jane Richardson is named as director general since 2023 on Wikipedia.

The organisation's website says it has over 600 staff. It describes five commitments, with four groups listed on the page we read: Prosper, which means looking after cultural and natural heritage and supporting the Welsh economy through cultural tourism; Experience, which means welcoming physical and digital spaces and inspiring exhibitions; Learn, which covers skills and well-being for staff and the public; and Participate, which means working with partners and communities. These are the organisation's own statements. A trading subsidiary, NMGW Enterprises Ltd, handles retail and catering.

Roles include curators and conservators, scientists who study the natural history collections, learning and community teams, exhibition and digital designers, guides at sites such as Big Pit, and retail, catering, fundraising, finance and facilities staff. The pages mention guidance on Welsh-language skill levels for jobs, so language requirements may apply to some roles, and we have not seen details. If you enjoy Welsh history, industry, art or nature, the Amgueddfa Cymru website is the place to check current roles.

What they do

• {'desc': 'National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans, Big Pit, National Wool Museum, National Roman Legion Museum, National Slate Museum and National Waterfront Museum.', 'title': 'Seven national museums'}
• {'desc': 'Natural history, archaeology, art and industrial heritage, with a National Collections Centre near Cardiff.', 'title': 'Collections'}
• {'desc': 'Bilingual learning and community work across Wales.', 'title': 'Learning and participation'}

Key facts

• Royal Charter granted 19 March 1907; main Cardiff building opened 28 October 1922
• Vision: "Inspiring people, changing lives" (adopted 2015)
• Over 600 staff; about 1.8 million visitors a year; over 5 million collection items (its own pages)
• Free admission to all seven museums (Wikipedia)

Website: museum.wales