W is for.. Water.. n... Workmanship

 

Hello and welcome! to another A-Z series on M-i-V... 

All through April I'm posting on the broad theme of Museums & Monuments Across the World - mostly those I've been to and a few on my bucket list that I haven't been able to visit yet. Museums are one of my favourite ways to get to know a culture, they sum up what those peoples want to preserve and pass onto their grandchildren, the facets they want to show their foreign visitors, how they perceive, present and preserve their own storyline and that of their interactions with the world. Come museum hopping with me!

W is for Wales

I visited Wales last month for a few days and as per usual my attempts to get to know the place was through its museums. Museum Wales has a series of six museums, of which I was able to visit two. The National Museum of Wales has natural history exhibits and also an art museum with big name collections of paintings, sculpture and ceramics. 

Cardiff Museum from the Museum grounds.
Houses natural history and art collections.

The other Museum Wales  site I was able to visit was St Fagan's, which I've talked about earlier in my S-post.  Among the bunch is also the National Wool Museum and the National Waterfront Museum, both sound interesting and if I get the chance to visit Wales again, I'll probably go visit those.  While I've been to other maritime museums, that's what the Waterfront Museum is - it's located in Swansea it draws roughly about 250,000 visitors annually btw. To get back to the point - I've never been to a wool museum, so that kind of intrigues me more. The Wool Museum is located in Teifi Valley, in a century old woollen mill. Wool was the heart of the Welsh economy once and this old mill, still in working order, showcases the story of  the industry, from fleece to fabric to garment. It's a small museum, with a footfall of around 25,000 visitors in 2025. 

Moon sculpture by Luke Jerram in the Grand Hall.
Touring artwork here for March and April.
Based on detailed NASA imagery.

The National Museum in Cardiff is vastly different, though. Much bigger and busier. Ceramics and artworks on the upper level, and natural history on the lower one. We spent nearly all our time viewing the galleries on the upper level. 

These felt very apt as I was there in Easter season.
Loved the uncluttered lines and palette. David Jones.

This museum received 356,000 visitors in 2025, though the numbers are up they haven't still reached the pre-pandemic levels yet. It is the second most popular museum in te group, only St Fagan's draws significantly  more visitors than the National Museum. 

Happy to come upon her again! Met her, properly
dressed and all, first at the Met, NYC. The 14 yo
Dancer by Degas.

The art collection on display was impressive with big names like Rembrandt, van Gogh, Monet, Turner and of course, Degas and Rodin, spanning 500 years of art and all the well known Welsh artists, naturally. Richard Wilson, Thomas Jones, Augustus and Gwen John. I wasn't familiar with any of them, so that was a good learning curve. 

De-e-lighted to come upon them too. First viewed
in Delhi on a loan exhibition at the National Museum
of India in Delhi and then at its home in Musee Rodin.

Museum Wales has a vast collection of over 5 million archaeological artefacts and natural history specimens and over 50,000 artworks spread over its group of museums, though only a tiny portion  of its holdings are displayed.

W is also for the Museum of Water & Steam

We passed this one on our way to Kew, had to change buses there...didn't have time to pop in and check it out. Perhaps next time...London has a museum for everything! One on musical instruments not too far from this spot...

It tells the story of the public water supply of London.

The largest collection of old  stationary steam engines are housed here
 in the historic building of the Kew Bridge Waterworks.

What was on during the Easter week when we were there
...always engaging young minds is the objective

W is for War ... n ... Weaponry

The other thing that came to mind was weapons...the traditional ones, not of mass destruction like the ones we're always being told some nations are developing and others are permitted to have casually as though they are you know..flowers and fruits. Anyways. 

There's the Royal Armoury at Leeds...the Hall of Steel where a collection of thousands of swords and guns are arranged in a mind boggling array covering a five-floor height atrium if I recall correctly...also an Indian array of arms and armour in one of the galleries, including the full monty for a war elephant.  Entire histories of wars and warfare and general carnage...lots to learn from if one doesn't want to make the same mistakes by repeating history. Only we don't learn, do we? The Royal Armouries Leeds describes itself on its website as  'a fun and free place'...Fun?? Fun?? must be joking...

Another one that I recall was in the Doge's Palace in Venice, where I saw a half-height, child-size set of full body armour, including helmet and visor and breastplates O. M. G. It had turned my brain inside out. Was it for training, was it for recruits as young as that, did generals actually plan on sending in 8-year-olds to battle wearing those? Or was it for someone with dwarfism? Why would anyone plan to send a dwarf into hand to hand combat? What crazy level of cruelty and inequality was that? It took me sometime to get the ghastliness of those thoughts out of my head. 

I've been to quite a few armouries - there's another one I remember in Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. Smaller. But equally pointed, equally sharp, equally heavy.  

All the above made with amazing workmanship, of course. Some of the pistols and daggers and other  arms are so beautifully jewelled and inlaid and engraved that they doubled up as items of personal ornamentation as well as deadly weapons that could inflict a mortal wound. One has to admire the artisans for that and for the engineering.

However, not one of my favourite types of exhibits/museums. Not one of my favourite subjects to talk about either. 

Deepest respects to the bravehearts who have wielded them in the past and still do to defend our respective nations. I wish they didn't have to take them up, but that one is not being granted for many lifetimes I guess. 

~~~

Thank you for visiting and reading. As the Challenge winds down into its last days now, I hope you've had a wonderful A-Z  if you are taking the Challenge and a wonderful April if you're not!

Posted for the A-Z Challenge 2026