Monday, December 6, 2010

Living History Museums: Museum of Welsh Life

In an earlier post, I wrote about Living History Museums and the benefit they can be to your roots travel. One of the museums I mentioned was the Museum of Welsh Life at St Fagans, Wales. This post will review that excellent museum.

The Museum of Welsh Life is, in my opinion, an absolute necessary stop on any Welsh roots travel itinerary. The museum reviews Welsh life at home and work over the last five hundred years. Located just west of Cardiff, the museum is on the grounds of St Fagans Castle on about 105 acres.

The museum has two parts: the galleries and the museum grounds. Both should be visited by anyone with Welsh ancestry.

The galleries include farm vehicles and implements, Welsh costumes and textiles, Welsh instruments, folk customs, and much more. It is a great overview of Welsh custom and culture that will really connect the roots traveler with their ancestors.

The highlight of a visit to the museum, though, is the museum grounds. The grounds include numerous buildings from around Wales. These buildings come from different time periods and regions and have been painstakingly reconstructed on the grounds of the museum. The visitor can see a typical pigsty, bee shelter, farmhouses, cottage, church, and even a row of iron worker's houses. These are just a few of the buildings represented.

Walking through the museum and its grounds is like gaining access to the time of your ancestors. For anyone who wants to connect with their Welsh ancestry, I definitely recommend the Museum of Welsh Life as a stop on their vacation.

Museum of Welsh Life website: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/2240/

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