About
The Museum of Cardiff tells the story of the Welsh capital through the voices and experiences of its people, housed in the beautifully restored Old Library building in the heart of the city centre. Opened in 2011, the museum takes a deliberately community-centred approach to local history, presenting Cardiff's transformation from a small medieval town to one of the most diverse and dynamic cities in the United Kingdom through personal stories, oral histories, objects donated by local residents, and interactive displays that invite visitors to contribute their own memories and perspectives.
The Old Library — a handsome Victorian civic building designed by James, Seward and Thomas and completed in 1882 — provides an elegant and historically appropriate setting for the museum. Originally Cardiff's first purpose-built public library, the building was extensively restored and adapted for its new role as the city's museum of local history, retaining its fine Victorian interior features while incorporating contemporary exhibition design and digital technology. The building itself is an important artefact of the same period of rapid civic development that the museum's collections explore.
Cardiff's history is one of extraordinary transformation. In 1801 the town had a population of barely 1,800; by 1901 it had grown to over 164,000, driven by the coal trade that made Cardiff the busiest coal-exporting port in the world and the commercial engine of the South Wales coalfield. The museum traces this explosive growth and its consequences — the building of the docks at Tiger Bay, the arrival of communities from across the world who came to work in the port, the development of civic institutions, parks, and public buildings, and the complex social dynamics of a rapidly growing industrial city.
The museum gives particular attention to Cardiff's multicultural heritage. Tiger Bay and the docklands area became one of the most ethnically diverse communities in Britain from the mid-nineteenth century, with families from Somalia, Yemen, the West Indies, Norway, Spain, and many other nations establishing themselves alongside Welsh and English residents. The museum documents this diversity with warmth and pride, presenting it as a defining feature of Cardiff's identity rather than a marginal footnote to a conventional civic narrative.
The approach throughout is participatory and inclusive — the museum regularly collects new objects and stories from the community, runs reminiscence projects and oral history programmes, and maintains an active relationship with Cardiff's diverse population groups. Temporary exhibitions respond to contemporary themes and community interests, ensuring the museum remains a living institution that reflects the city as it is today as well as documenting its past.
Categories:
Highlights
The Coal Boom and the Making of Modern Cardiff
The most dramatic chapter in Cardiff's history is its transformation from a modest market town to the world's largest coal-exporting port in the space of a single century. The museum documents this extraordinary story in vivid detail — from the opening of the Bute West Dock in 1839 (financed by the 2nd Marquess of Bute, who staked his fortune on the coal trade) through the frenzied expansion of the dock system and railway network to the peak years before the First World War when Cardiff handled more coal than any other port on earth.
Maps, photographs, trade documents, and personal accounts convey both the scale of the economic transformation and its impact on the lives of ordinary Cardiffians.
Tiger Bay — Cardiff's Multicultural Docklands
The Tiger Bay displays are among the museum's most distinctive and important features, documenting the history of one of Britain's oldest and most diverse multicultural communities. Sailors and workers from across the globe — Somalia, Yemen, the West Indies, Norway, Greece, Spain, and many other nations — settled in the docklands area from the mid-nineteenth century, creating a neighbourhood of extraordinary cultural richness.
The museum tells this story through personal objects, photographs, oral histories, and community memories, celebrating the diversity that became a defining characteristic of Cardiff's identity while honestly acknowledging the racism and discrimination that docklands communities also faced.
The Old Library Building
The museum's home — the Old Library building on Trinity Street — is itself an important piece of Cardiff's story.
Designed by James, Seward and Thomas and completed in 1882, it was Cardiff's first purpose-built public library, a monument to the Victorian belief that civic institutions could educate and improve the population of a rapidly growing industrial town. The building's handsome stone facade, elegant interior spaces, and decorative details have been carefully restored, and the museum's interpretation draws attention to the building as an artefact of the same period of ambitious civic development that its collections document.
Community Voices — Oral History Collection
The Museum of Cardiff has built an outstanding collection of oral histories — recorded interviews with Cardiff residents from all backgrounds and generations that capture the city's story in the voices of the people who lived it. These recordings, accessible through listening stations throughout the galleries, cover an enormous range of subjects — childhood memories, working life, immigration experiences, wartime recollections, sporting passions, and reflections on how the city has changed over decades.
The oral history approach is central to the museum's identity and philosophy, ensuring that Cardiff's story is told not by curators alone but by the diverse community the museum serves.
Collections
Cardiff: A City of Change
The principal permanent gallery tracing Cardiff's history from medieval market town through the coal boom and world wars to its present status as the Welsh capital — community voices, personal objects, and interactive displays telling the city's story through the experiences of its people.
Tiger Bay: A World in a Neighbourhood
A dedicated display exploring the history and heritage of Cardiff's famous docklands community, celebrating its multicultural character through personal stories, photographs, and objects donated by local families.
The Old Library: This Building's Story
An interpretation of the museum building itself — its design, construction, and role as Cardiff's first public library — set within the broader context of Victorian civic ambition and the cultural development of the city.
Current Exhibitions
A rotating exhibition drawn from the museum's ongoing community collecting programme, featuring recently donated objects and new oral history recordings that add to the growing archive of Cardiff's contemporary story.
Nearby Museums (5 within 6 miles)
Firing Line: Cardiff Castle Museum of the Welsh Soldier
War and Conflict
Cardiff — ~3 min walk (0.2 mi)