You are here: Home > National Museum Cardiff > About the museum > Origins – In Search of Early Wales > Medieval

National Museum Cardiff

Medieval National Museum Cardiff

[image: Mail shirt (1400s), floor tile (1300s) and chess pieces (1100s)]

AD 1070s-1530s

Wales in 1350 was a very different country from Wales in 1050. By 1550, it had changed dramatically again.

More written sources survive from this period than ever before. They tell us about the events that transformed Medieval Wales. Archaeology reveals what history may not.

The objects on display offer glimpses of day-to-day life. Some reflect current issues, such as the impact of war and the display of faith. Others show changes in fashion and standards of living …and increasing influences, once again, from Continental Europe.

The Llandaf Diptych was made from elephant ivory in Paris about AD 1340/60. Diptychs and triptychs (two and three panel images) were intended to engage the medieval viewer in meditation of Christ’s life and suffering.

[image: Llandaf Diptych]

Paris became a prolific centre for manufacturing such devotional objects.

The right hand panel was found during the demolition of ‘the old well-house’ in Llandaf in 1836, while the left is now in the collections of National Museums Liverpool.

When the original is not on loan, a laser-cut resin copy of the left panel is on display.

  • National Museum Cardiff

    [image: National Museum Cardiff]

    Discover art, archaeology, natural history and geology. With a busy programme of exhibitions and events, we have something to amaze everyone, whatever your interest – and admission is free!

  • St Fagans: National History Museum

    [image: St Fagans]

    St Fagans is one of Europe's foremost open-air museums and Wales's most popular heritage attraction.

  • Big Pit: National Coal Museum

    [image: Big Pit]

    Big Pit is a real coal mine and one of Britain's leading mining museums. With facilities to educate and entertain all ages, Big Pit is an exciting and informative day out.

  • National Wool Museum

    [image: National Wool Museum]

    Located in the historic former Cambrian Mills, the Museum is a special place with a spellbinding story to tell.

  • National Roman Legion Museum

    [image: National Roman Legion Museum]

    In AD 75, the Romans built a fortress at Caerleon that would guard the region for over 200 years. Today at the National Roman Legion Museum you can learn what made the Romans a formidable force and how life wouldn't be the same without them.

  • National Slate Museum

    [image: National Slate Museum]

    The National Slate Museum offers a day full of enjoyment and education in a dramatically beautiful landscape on the shores of Llyn Padarn.

  • National Waterfront Museum

    [image: National Waterfront Museum]

    The National Waterfront Museum at Swansea tells the story of industry and innovation in Wales, now and over the last 300 years.

  • Rhagor: Explore our collections

    Rhagor (Welsh for ‘more’) offers unprecedented access to the amazing stories that lie behind our collections.