Exciting developments today in Cardiff. The St Davids 2 development had a "topping ceremony." This, as it sounds celebrates the top, naturally. Actually its a long historical tradition in building which marks the point at which building reaches its highest peak.
More to the point though, this ceremony marks the closest stage in its 10 year development of nearing its grand opening. The whole thing is so exciting. I love Cardiff as it is. I can see why its one of the fastest growing capitals in the world, and this development can do it no harm.
It will introduce 100 brand new shops including the classy John Lewis's, Reiss and numerous others (98 to be exact), and will really elevate Cardiff's already growing status.
I am immensely excited. As an Exeter Graduate, I remember the day I came back in my third year and the Princesshay development they'd been working on since I arrived in the city was finally complete. And my God, did it change the atmosphere of the city. It also attracted a terrorist bomber, but the less said about that the better.
But this development in Cardiff is promising to be even better, including a restaurant by Jamie Oliver. Isn't that rather posh.
I realise now I'm repeating myself quite alot, so I'm going to make this short and sweet, but just say, once more for the record, that I'm really really excited.
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Monday, 12 January 2009
How about a trip to the museum, darling?
The National Museum of Wales is split up into various historical aspects, each of which are displayed in different locations throughout Wales:
View Larger Map
Museums are fabulous places. Every country has a national one, and nearly every town or city has one dedicated to it. Museums were, at one point, the high point of social and cultural visits. With events such as the Grand Tour and high status exhibitions brought over to the UK, such as the Elgin Marbles, a frieze from the Parthenon, Athens, museums became popular focal interest points. They became places to enhance your social standing by increasing your knowledge of history and the classics.
When people visit new towns and cities, be it at home or abroad, many of us will track down the local museum in a bid to find out more about the local history, or to see impressive exhibitions and collections which can emphasise a place's wealth and status. Much can be said about a place by the collection of exhibitions in its museums, even the smallest towns can have pieces of such grandeur and you have to wonder how on earth they managed to obtain them.
Yet, are museums still as popular as they once were? They are places you go on school trips, or with new friends when they visit you from another town or city, more because they want to see it, than you do.
London has perhaps some of the most renowned collection of museums in Europe. Who can not be amazed when you first walk into the National History Museum, into the shadows of the full size skeleton of the Diplodocus who guards the foyer. Similarly, the Science Museum attracts 1.6 million tourists a year. Arguably then, museums seem to still be a hugely popular social activity and major tourist attractions.
Museums have seen an impressive increase in visitors over the past 30 years. The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff saw its visitor toll rise by 50,000 to 353,509 in the financial year 2007/2008.
Cardiff houses two of Wales's most popular museum sites. St Fagans is Wales's most visited heritage site, but it is the National Museum in Cathay's Park which is perhaps one of Cardiff's most recognisable attractions.
The museum once housed its own impressive dinosaur exhibition. `One could never fail to be amazed by its display and no matter how many times you walked through the exhibition, everyone still got scared by the full-size, floating model of a Basking Shark. Which, excitingly, has made its return to the museum floor, or ceiling as the case may be, as part of the museum's Welsh wildlife display. Who knew Basking Sharks make frequent appearances off the coast of Cornwall in that little bit of sea between the borders?
The museum underwent some major changes during 2008. More specifically, the museum’s art galleries were completely refurbished from their previous 1980/1990’s decor, which had not changed since the galleries were first opened nearly 20 years ago. The new galleries promote and include public interaction, bringing the status of the museum into the new era.
Given this new revamp, the museum certainly seems to be upping its cool points with the general public. But this attention on the art galleries alone marks another, potentially huge change in the museum’s status.
To visit the museum now, one finds it mainly consists of some very impressive art collections and not much else. The National Museum is home to 43,000 works of art, including one of Europe's best collections of French impressionism including Claude Monet's Waterlillies, and a copy of the sculpture, The Kiss, by Auguste Rodin. It is in fact not just an impressive collection of Impressionism, but actually one of Europe's finest art collections, period.
There are rumoured plans to turn the National Museum into a stand-alone art gallery and while this may not surprise many people it is actually rather a pipe dream than a definite possibility. There are four brand new galleries dedicated to Welsh art alone, but the Museum still receives new exhibitions on science and archaeology, which are just as popular.
Plans have been put forward by Welsh Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones to move archaeological exhibitions on the history of Wales, which are currently on display in the museum to the site at St Fagans. This a long-term, on-going plan and will by no means retract from the Museum's status as such.
So how will this affect the “Museum’s” status? As far as it goes, it appears that not a lot should change. The museum will still house many exhibits dedicated to archaeology and science, and will keep adding to its impressive art collections. With the popularity of the museum growing year by year, it would be appear that whatever changes occur, they can't go far wrong, and yes, museum's are just as popular as they have ever been. After all, as human beings we do have an inherent curiosity to see and learn.
View Larger Map
Museums are fabulous places. Every country has a national one, and nearly every town or city has one dedicated to it. Museums were, at one point, the high point of social and cultural visits. With events such as the Grand Tour and high status exhibitions brought over to the UK, such as the Elgin Marbles, a frieze from the Parthenon, Athens, museums became popular focal interest points. They became places to enhance your social standing by increasing your knowledge of history and the classics.
When people visit new towns and cities, be it at home or abroad, many of us will track down the local museum in a bid to find out more about the local history, or to see impressive exhibitions and collections which can emphasise a place's wealth and status. Much can be said about a place by the collection of exhibitions in its museums, even the smallest towns can have pieces of such grandeur and you have to wonder how on earth they managed to obtain them.
Yet, are museums still as popular as they once were? They are places you go on school trips, or with new friends when they visit you from another town or city, more because they want to see it, than you do.
London has perhaps some of the most renowned collection of museums in Europe. Who can not be amazed when you first walk into the National History Museum, into the shadows of the full size skeleton of the Diplodocus who guards the foyer. Similarly, the Science Museum attracts 1.6 million tourists a year. Arguably then, museums seem to still be a hugely popular social activity and major tourist attractions.
Museums have seen an impressive increase in visitors over the past 30 years. The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff saw its visitor toll rise by 50,000 to 353,509 in the financial year 2007/2008.
Cardiff houses two of Wales's most popular museum sites. St Fagans is Wales's most visited heritage site, but it is the National Museum in Cathay's Park which is perhaps one of Cardiff's most recognisable attractions.
The museum once housed its own impressive dinosaur exhibition. `One could never fail to be amazed by its display and no matter how many times you walked through the exhibition, everyone still got scared by the full-size, floating model of a Basking Shark. Which, excitingly, has made its return to the museum floor, or ceiling as the case may be, as part of the museum's Welsh wildlife display. Who knew Basking Sharks make frequent appearances off the coast of Cornwall in that little bit of sea between the borders?
The museum underwent some major changes during 2008. More specifically, the museum’s art galleries were completely refurbished from their previous 1980/1990’s decor, which had not changed since the galleries were first opened nearly 20 years ago. The new galleries promote and include public interaction, bringing the status of the museum into the new era.
Given this new revamp, the museum certainly seems to be upping its cool points with the general public. But this attention on the art galleries alone marks another, potentially huge change in the museum’s status.
To visit the museum now, one finds it mainly consists of some very impressive art collections and not much else. The National Museum is home to 43,000 works of art, including one of Europe's best collections of French impressionism including Claude Monet's Waterlillies, and a copy of the sculpture, The Kiss, by Auguste Rodin. It is in fact not just an impressive collection of Impressionism, but actually one of Europe's finest art collections, period.
There are rumoured plans to turn the National Museum into a stand-alone art gallery and while this may not surprise many people it is actually rather a pipe dream than a definite possibility. There are four brand new galleries dedicated to Welsh art alone, but the Museum still receives new exhibitions on science and archaeology, which are just as popular.
Plans have been put forward by Welsh Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones to move archaeological exhibitions on the history of Wales, which are currently on display in the museum to the site at St Fagans. This a long-term, on-going plan and will by no means retract from the Museum's status as such.
So how will this affect the “Museum’s” status? As far as it goes, it appears that not a lot should change. The museum will still house many exhibits dedicated to archaeology and science, and will keep adding to its impressive art collections. With the popularity of the museum growing year by year, it would be appear that whatever changes occur, they can't go far wrong, and yes, museum's are just as popular as they have ever been. After all, as human beings we do have an inherent curiosity to see and learn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)