I went to National Museum Cardiff for the first time and 10 things stood out most to me

With many concerned over the future of National Museum Cardiff, I decided it was finally time to pay my first visit. Like many people new to the capital, the free attraction was high on my list of things to see while living here (along with climbing in the Bannau Brycheiniog and meeting Michael Sheen, but somehow the museum felt more manageable). However with a university timetable that follows a nine-to-five routine I struggled to find the time.

Speaking to Cardiff residents this week, many said they would be “devastated” if they were to lose the museum. They spoke about their memories, the school trips, exploring exhibits with friends and the moments of inspiration that happened there. They also spoke about the opportunities that would be lost for both children and adults to learn more about the history of Wales and its place in the world.

Earlier this week, Wales' new culture secretary Lesley Griffiths said there were "no plans" for the National Museum Cardiff to close its doors. However, chief executive of Museum Wales Jane Richardson told BBC Radio Wales of the "extremely difficult" task of dealing with a £4.5m reduction in its budget. She warned that the site may be forced to close because of its deteriorating condition, and that at least 90 jobs were going at the organisation. For the latest Cardiff news, sign up to our newsletter here

With this in mind I paid a visit and tried to see how many interesting things I could learn in my lunch break. Here's what I found:

Hyenas once roamed south Wales

The remains of a hyena’s upper and lower jaw are on display next to a display of a mechanical hyena that laughs at visitors as they wander through the dark Ice Age exhibit. Most of the bones in the display were from Coygan Cave, Laugharne. You can also see the remains of some of the hyena's poor victims with the teeth marks still in the bone

Wales was once warm enough for hippos too

Nowadays we are lucky if the temperature makes it to 30 degrees Celsius, but 120,000 years ago the climate was much hotter and hippos roamed in the rivers and fed off water weeds in Wales.

Luckily for today's outdoor swimmers they only stayed for a few thousand years, before the climate began to cool around 10,000 years ago. At the museum you can see the skull of a hippopotamus which is on loan to the museum from the University of Cambridge.

Mammoths had four very large teeth

Mammoth incisors are actually their tusks which they used to dig for vegetation beneath the ice. In their cheeks however were two very large molars which they used to eat with. The teeth are apparently very common to find as fossils because they preserve easily. Both tusks and teeth are on display near the popular robotic mother and baby mammoth exhibit.

Basking Sharks were called ‘sun fsh’ by Welsh and Irish fisherman

Basking sharks get their name from their habit of floating motionless upon the water - basking in the sun. They are 12 metres in length and are the largest known fish in the ocean. You can see a model of one in the museum to get an idea of their impressive size.

A new Welsh dinosaur was discovered by brothers in Penarth

This dinosaur is thought to be a distant cousin of a T-Rex, living at around 130 million years before its much bigger, much more frightening family member. Now officially known as ‘Hanigan’s Dragon Thief’, this species was only 50cm tall, and named after brothers Nick and Rob Hanigan - the two fossil-hunting brothers who found it after it fell out of a cliff face at Penarth.

The dinosaur exhibit is popular with adults and children alike. One person interviewed said it reminded him of happy memories looking at dinosaur bones as a child. I wish I had similar positive memories, but my dad thought it would be funny to put me in the mouth of a T-rex at the National history museum in London when I was three. It was not funny.

The Vincent Van Gogh self-portrait that has not left France in over 200 years

Cardiff's latest exhibit contains one of Van Gogh’s 20 self portraits. It is on loan from the Musee d'Orsay until January 2025. Is thought to have been painted when he lived in Pairs between 1886 and 1888 - and is an impressive sight.

The Welsh artist who has her own portrait in the same exhibit - made from her own hair

Anya Paintsil’s self portrait is about ‘reclaiming her Welsh Identity’ by depicting herself as the mythological Blodeuwedd from the Mabinogion, the earliest collection of Welsh folk tales.

It is an embroidery piece and contains locks of her own hair to depict the flower women. The self-portrait exhibit is well worth a visit and costs only a pound to enter, to keep works such as this one and Van Gogh accessible to all.

The importance of ‘re-framing’ the narrative of Thomas Picton

Thomas Picton, who born in Pembrokeshire, was celebrated throughout his life, despite his nickname as the ‘Tyrant of Trinidad’ when he was Britain’s first governor there. To the people living in Trinidad he was known as ruthless and cruel but continued to be celebrated in Britain for his “courage” and when he was killed at Waterloo his legacy as a hero was secured.

The exhibit works to literally re-frame this narrative, with the painting of Picton placed in a frame with a wooden beam across it that resembles a shipping container, as though it were left in the corner of a warehouse to be forgotten about. The rest of the exhibit contained details of his crimes in Trindad, including the unlawful torture of a 14-year-old girl who was falsely accused of stealing.

The exhibit also includes work from Gesiye, who is an artist working in Trinidad, depicting the effects of generational trauma and shows the long-lasting effects of colonialism.

Monet’s Sunsets are worth taking a moment to just pause and enjoy

The museum has a large collection of impressionist paintings, including some of Claude Monet’s water colours. These were given to the museum by the generous Gwendoline and Margaret Davies who donated a total of 260 paintings to Cardiff museums upon their deaths in 1951 and 1963.

One of those is the ‘San Giorgio Maggiore by Twilight’ painted in 1908. Every evening in late November, Monet took his wife on gondola trips to enjoy these sunsets which he described as “unique in the world.”

I am definitely not smart enough for modern art... but even I can appreciate Iwanowski

Cardiff based Michal Iwanowski came across some graffiti in 2008 that inspired his artwork 10 years later. The graffiti said “go home Polish” and in 2018 amongst the chaos of Brexit he did just that…he walked 1900km from Wales to Poland.

This took 105 days to complete (three and a half months) during which he posted a diary of his experience to Instagram. Every one of those posts is now displayed in Cardiff museum and has been there since 2020 when his theme of ‘home’ took on a new meaning.