Cardiff Story

Cardiff Story Museum

Amgueddfa Stori Caerdydd
The entrance to the Cardiff Story Museum in January 2016
Location in central Cardiff
Established	1 April 2011
Location	The Hayes, Cardiff, Wales
Coordinates	51°28′47″N 3°10′37″W / 51.479753°N 3.176851°W / 51.479753; -3.176851
Public transit access	Cardiff Central Cardiff Queen Street Cardiff Bus 1,2,8,9/A,11,12,13,28,29/B Cardiff Bus 35,36,38,39,44,45,49,50
Website	Cardiff Story

The Cardiff Story Museum (Welsh: Amgueddfa Stori Caerdydd) is a museum in Cardiff, Wales which exhibits the history of the city. The museum opened on 1 April 2011 and entrance is free. The heritage museum has brought together a collection of 3,000 objects and Cardiff-related artefacts, many donated from Cardiff residents and communities.

Cardiff Story is situated in the Old Library, at the northern end of The Hayes. The building was opened in 1882 by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff as the Cardiff Free Library, Museum and Schools for Science and Art, which included an art gallery. The Schools of Science and Art were housed in the building until 1890 when it moved to buildings that were part of the University College. The Central Library was moved to a new building located on St David’s Link on 3 December 1988.

Cardiff Council had been seeking the permanent use of the Old Library since the closure of the Cardiff Centre for Visual Arts in 2000.

The Cardiff Strategic Tourism Growth Area Action Plan, supported by Cardiff Council and Wales Tourist Board (now Visit Wales), looked at major elements essential to developing Cardiff as a tourism destination, and came with £2 million funding towards projects from such as the development of a specific Cardiff Museum. As a result, consultants were appointed in 2002 to produce the feasibility study for a Living Museum of Cardiff, jointly funded by Cardiff Council and The Council of Museums in Wales (now CyMAL). The study concluded that an estimated 130,000 visitors per year are expected based on free entry, a city centre site is essential for a museum accessible to visitors and the community, the focus should be on the last 200 years of Cardiff’s industrial rise, and that a strong interactive element is essential with things for children to do, such as sound and film.

Proposals for the development of the Museum Project were approved. This included appointing a Museum Project Officer, based in the Old Library, to undertake exhibitions, workshops and consultation with communities and groups to develop material for the full museum. According to a survey of Cardiff citizens, 81.3% were very or fairly likely to visit a museum dedicated to the history of Cardiff.

Centenary celebrations for Cardiff commenced in 2005; Cardiff having become a city in 1905, and the capital city in 1955. Funding from the Millennium Commission and Cardiff Council for celebratory events financed the Museum Project’s first exhibition programme. Following on from Moving Stories, Cardiff’s Century exhibition opened to give an insight into how the city has changed between 1905 and 2005. 20,947 people visited the exhibition over 6 months. These exhibitions were based on people’s stories with educational content and an interactive element. According to a Cardiff Visitor Survey 2005, an annual survey of around 1,000 visitors to Cardiff, 68% of respondents said they are very or fairly likely to visit a Cardiff museum.