Guide to Museums in:


Cardiff

Newport

Swansea

WALES

SWANSEA MUSEUMS

Swansea Museum in Swansea is the oldest museum in Wales. The building was built for the Royal Institution of South Wales in 1841 in the neo-classical style. The main museum on Oystermouth Road contains all kinds of objects from the past of Swansea, and the rest of the world. Contents in the six galleries range from an Egyptian mummy to a traditional Welsh kitchen. The museum has three boats in its collections which are kept at the marina. The boats are a lightship 'Helwick', a tug boat called 'Canning' and 'Olga', a Bristol Channel Pilot Cutter built in 1909. Access to the boats is possible in June, July and August. The Tramshed in the Marina displays memorabilia from the former street trams of Swansea and the Mumbles tram that ran around the edge of the bay from Swansea town centre to Mumbles pier. The Collections Centre in Landore displays reserve and maritime & industrial collections. The collection includes two lifeboats and vintage vehicles.

For more information and enquiries please contact Swansea Museum, Victoria Road, The Maritime Quarter, Swansea, SA1 1SN, United Kingdom, Tel: 01792 653763, E-mail: swansea.museum@Swansea.gov.uk

The Swansea Museum
Photograph © Colin Smith

The Dylan Thomas Centre is an arts centre located in the Maritime Quarter in Swansea. the Dylan Thomas Centre was restored and refurbished to host the UK Year of Literature and Writing in 1995. There is a permanent exhibition on the life and work of Dylan Thomas, as well as a restaurant and bar, a bookshop cafe, conference rooms and a theatre. The centre houses the permanent ‘Man and Myth’ exhibition, based on the largest collection of memorabilia of its kind in the world. It is designed to appeal to the Dylan expert and interested visitor alike. This interactive exhibition explores Dylan’s life and work through a variety of media and includes letters, books, worksheets and photographs. The Dylan Thomas Centre is home to a year-round programme of literary events, including book launches, plays, poetry evenings, changing exhibitions and science talks. The Dylan Thomas Centre’s staff also provide a variety of talks and tours, such as talks on aspects of Dylan’s life and works, on contemporary literature, on writing poetry and on cultural tourism.

For more information and enquiries please contact Dylan Thomas Centre, Somerset Place, Swansea. SA1 1RR, United Kingdom, Tel: 01792 463980, E-mail: dylanthomas.lit@swansea.gov.uk

Dylan Thomas Centre
Photograph © Huw Webber

The National Waterfront Museum is situated in Swansea and it forms part of the National Museum of Wales. The collections on display include maritime, transport, technology and retail artefacts. The museum deals with Wales' history of industrial revolution and innovation by combining significant historical artifacts with modern technologies, such as interactive touchscreens and multimedia presentation systems. It is one of the first museums in the United Kingdom to feature multilingual voiceovers, as well as British Sign Language captioning on all interactive content.

For more information and enquiries please contact National Waterfront Museum, Oystermouth Road, Maritime Quarter, Swansea, SA1 Tel: (01792) 638950, E-mail: waterfront@museumwales.ac.uk

National Waterfront Museum,
a replica of the world's first steam locomotive by Richard Trevithick
Photograph © Mick Lobb

The Taliesin Arts Centre is owned and managed by the University of Wales, Swansea and is located on the university campus. The venue hosts a broad programme of events including cinema screenings, an average of ten visiting exhibitions per year, and a variety of live performances, from dance and drama to jazz and world music. Taliesin Arts Centre also houses the Egypt Centre. The two-storey gallery contains an important collection of antiquities from Ancient Egypt. In addition to hosting regular touring exhibitions, the Taliesin’s Oriel Ceri Richards Gallery also stocks a range of greetings cards as well as jewellery, ceramics and other craft items, and includes a café bar.

For more information and enquiries please contact Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PZ, Tel: 01792 60 20 60/51 31 38/29 68 83, E-mail: office@taliesinartscentre.co.uk

Located within the Taliesin building, the Egypt Centre is a museum of Egyptian antiquities open to the public. There are over 4000 items in the collection. Most of them were collected by the pharmacist Sir Henry Wellcome. Others came to the museum from: the British Museum; the Royal Edinburgh Museum; National Museums and Galleries of Wales Cardiff; the Royal Albert Museum and Art Gallery and also private donors. Egypt Centre staff regularly give lectures and talks to museum groups and other outside bodies on widening participation in university museums; social inclusion and volunteering.

For more information and enquiries please contact Egypt Centre, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP, Tel: 01792 295960 or e-mail the curator, Carolyn Graves-Brown at: c.a.graves-brown@swansea.ac.uk