The National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon will be open from 24th October 2019 – just in time for the half term holidays!

Getting a new roof is never straightforward, especially for a museum with 1,700 objects on display.

We’ve been closed to the public for a year while the gallery was turned into a building site. We now have a brand new roof, new lights, display panels and a lick of paint; everything’s looking shiny and new! Now all we need is visitors to come and enjoy it.

What happened to the artefacts?

While the builders have been working, the artefacts have been looked after at National Museum Cardiff.

For some of these objects, it’s the first time they have been out of the display cases for 30 years, so now is the ideal opportunity to have them checked and treated by the archaeology conservator, and photographed so that they can go into Collections Online – our online catalogue where you will be able to see images and details of all of the objects that are on display.

Museum photographer Robin Maggs photographing a Roman glass bottle

Some objects are too big to move and had to stay where they are, so they have been boxed in and kept safe throughout the building work.

Gallery during the works

Before the objects were returned, those display cases needed a thoroughly good clean, and there’s only one way to really clean the inside of a case – that is to get inside it!

Museum Assistant Paul cleaning inside a display case

Ever looked closely at how objects in museums have been held up, or positioned on display? Hopefully not! It’s thanks to the curators that you don’t notice these things, so that your attention is drawn to the objects themselves. It can be painstaking work, but it’s worth it in the end.

Curator Jody Deacon placing the skeleton back in his coffin

Curator Alastair Willis re-displaying Roman coins

What next?

Now the objects are back in their display cases, back home where they belong, ready for you to come and enjoy them. We’re really looking forward to sharing our wonderful collections with you.

We also have all manner of activities, crafts and storytelling going on in half term, not to mention, of course, your opportunity to meet a Roman soldier.

I barhau â Blwyddyn Ryngwladol Tabl Cyfnodol yr Elfennau Cemegol y Cenhedloedd Unedig, rydym wedi dewis arsenig ar gyfer mis Awst.

Cadw’r Bwystfilod – Arsenig a Thacsidermi

Mae’r anifeiliaid tacsidermi yn un o atyniadau mwyaf poblogaidd yr Amgueddfa. Daw’r gair ‘tacsidermi’ o taxis (trefnu) a derma (croen), ac mae’n golygu mowntio neu atgynhyrchu sbesimenau anifeiliaid er mwyn eu harddangos neu eu hastudio.

Mae’r dechneg o greu tacsidermi wedi bod yn datblygu ers dros 300 mlynedd. Yn wreiddiol, doedd y technegau hyn ddim yn cadw’r sbesimenau’n dda iawn, a châi’r mowntiau eu colli oherwydd dirywiad neu drychfilod.

Gwnaed sawl ymgais i wella dulliau cadw, gan ddefnyddio amrywiaeth o ddeunyddiau fel perlysiau, sbeisys a halen ar ffurf powdrau, pastau a thoddiannau. Fodd bynnag, aflwyddiannus oedd y dulliau hyn ar y cyfan.

Yn y 1700au dechreuodd rhai tacsidermwyr ddefnyddio cemegau gwenwynig fel mwynau arsenig neu fercwri clorid i gadw eu sbesimenau. Oherwydd eu natur wenwynig, roedd y cemegau hyn yn atal dirywiad a difrod trychfilod ac yn gwneud i’r tacsidermi bara’n hirach.

Arweiniodd llwyddiant y cemegau hyn at ddatblygu triniaeth ‘sebon arsenig’ i helpu i gadw croen anifeiliaid. Roedd y sebon yn gymysgedd o gamffor, powdr arsenig, halwyn tartar, sebon a phowdr calch – fyddwn i ddim yn defnyddio hwn i ymolchi! Roedd y sebon yn galluogi i’r arsenig weithio mewn ffordd ymarferol drwy rwbio mewn i ochr isaf croen wedi’i lanhau a’i baratoi. Roedd hwn yn ddull poblogaidd iawn ac yn cael ei ddefnyddio mor ddiweddar â’r 1970au.

Nid yw arsenig yn cael ei ddefnyddio fel rhan o’r driniaeth erbyn hyn. Mae hyn oherwydd ei fod yn wenwynig ac yn beryglus i iechyd pobl, ond hefyd oherwydd bod technegau newydd wedi’u darganfod.

Elfen lwyd yr olwg yw arsenig anorganig (As, rhif atomig 33). Mae’n feteloid, sy’n golygu fod ganddo nodweddion metelig ac anfetelig. Mae pobl wedi bod yn ei ddefnyddio mewn amrywiaeth o ffyrdd ers canrifoedd – mewn meddyginiaeth, fel pigment ac fel plaladdwr. Mae arsenig a’i gyfansoddion yn wenwynau cryf iawn, yn ddrwg i’r amgylchedd ac yn garsinogenig. Mae’n wenwynig i bethau byw am ei fod yn tarfu ar weithgarwch ensymau sy’n rhan o gylch egni celloedd byw.

Yw hyn yn golygu fod ein sbesimenau tacsidermi hŷn, sy’n cynnwys arsenig, yn beryglus? Mae hynny’n bosibl os yw’r sbesimen wedi’i ddifrodi ac ochr isaf y croen yn dangos, ond ychydig iawn o risg sydd i sbesimenau cyfan cyn belled â bod camau synhwyrol yn cael eu cymryd megis gwisgo cyfarpar amddiffynnol wrth symud neu wneud gwaith ar sbesimen.

Heddiw, mae’r rhan fwyaf o sbesimenau sy’n cael eu harddangos gennym yn cael eu trin heb ddefnyddio cemegau gwenwynig, ond mae mwy o risg i’r sbesimenau hyn gael eu difrodi gan drychfilod. Felly rydym yn monitro ein casgliadau er mwyn cadw golwg am arwyddion o bla trychfilod, ac yn eu trin gyda dulliau diogel a chynaliadwy megis rhewi os yw hyn yn digwydd.

Ond mae’n rheswm da arall i beidio cyffwrdd y sbesimenau...

Helo Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn,

Mae'n diwrnod plannu ar gyfer ysgolion yn Gymru, Lloegr a Gogledd Iwerddon! Bydd ysgolion yn Yr Alban yn plannu wythnos nesa.

Cliciwch yma ar gyfer adnoddau i'ch paratoi ar gyfer heddiw ac am ofalu amdan eich bylbiau dros y misoedd nesaf!

Dylech ddarllen y dogfennau hyn:

• Mabwysiadu eich Bwlb (trosolwg o’r gofal fydd angen ar eich Bylbiau)

• Plannu eich bylbiau (canllawiau ar gyfer sicrhau arbrawf teg)

A dylech gwblhau'r gweithgareddau hyn:

• Tystysgrif Mabwysiadu Bylbiau

• Creu Labelai Bylbiau

Mae'n bwysig eich bod yn darllen y rhain oherwydd maent yn cynnwys gwybodaeth bwysig! Er enghraifft, ydych chi'n gwybod i labelu eich potiau fel mae’n glir lle mae'r Cennin Pedr a Chrocws wedi eu plannu?

Cofiwch dynnu lluniau o'ch diwrnod plannu i gystadlu yn y gystadleuaeth ffotograffydd!

Cadwch lygad ar dudalen Twitter Athro'r Ardd i weld lluniau o ysgolion eraill.

Pob lwc! Gadewch i ni wybod sut mae'n mynd!

Athro'r Ardd a Bwlb Bychan

Earlier this year I was presented with the chance of a lifetime, a paid opportunity to develop my professional career and expand my portfolio. I applied for an artist in residency with Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, to work with their museum volunteers up and down the country, to create a project that would celebrate 10 years of the volunteering program. After a thoroughly exciting interview process, I was asked to join the team.

Fast forward 6 months and my Artist Residency has now reached a close. I’m very happy with the work I have created; it showers the volunteering hub in colour and celebrates the amazing contribution volunteers have given to the museum. It fills me with joy to share my work with such an enthusiastic cohort of volunteers from all walks of life.

I started designing the mural at the same time as touring the country and running creative workshops with volunteers. I had collected a long list of volunteer roles but understanding them in a way that helped me generate genuine visuals required meeting volunteers in person, visiting the sites and experiencing what they do first hand. Over a month or two, I managed to construct flowing imagery to turn into celebratory hanging banners - a design format that stood out during my research.

I created the design by hand, as I feel more comfortable using traditional techniques, then started the daunting task of rendering a digital copy of the work using Adobe Illustrator. Including this step was somewhat of a learning curve for me, but it’s been a valuable experience. Having a digital copy of the design meant that we could create prints for all the museum sites and a printed gift for each of the volunteers. It also sped up the painting process because it allowed me to use a projector.

Using string, pins and painters tape I divided the wall up into segments. Piece by piece I projected and copied details of the design upon the walls rough surface. The wall is made of lime rendering, which it turns out is not a very cooperative surface to paint on. It’s dry, so moisture from the paint is quickly absorbed which increases the amount of paint needed, the stroke count and the time it takes. It’s also rough, which slowly ruins brushes and pens.

Once the design was cartooned upon the wall, I chose to fill in large areas using low-pressure spray paint. This part of the process saved time and had the lucky benefit of creating a smoother plastic wrap over the wall. After filling the space with basic flat shapes I used brushes and pens to add details and definition with regular acrylic paints.

My goal was to create a design that was not only on brief, but functional, aesthetically pleasing and contained other layers of depth hidden below the surface. The hanging banner format is supposed to connote a sense of celebration and heraldry. The colour palette is reminiscent of the dyes used in the tapestries sewn by volunteers for Llys Llewelyn. I wanted the illustration style to be subtly influenced by welsh traditional craft and contain subtle suggestions of embroidery, slip-on cast tiles patchwork etc. I created the typeface used for the quotes contained in the artwork from some of the earliest welsh stone carvings found on a cross near Ogmore.

I’d been looking forward to the painting process since the very beginning, it was long and laborious but oh-so rewarding. Despite the fact that a large percentage of my wardrobe is speckled with a rainbow of vibrant acrylic, I really enjoyed physically crafting something.

I want to say the biggest thank you to everyone in the volunteering & community engagement department - especially Ffion & Haf - for checking in on me and giving me guidance and support, thank you to all the kind staff at St Fagans for making me feel welcome, thank you to the National Lottery Heritage Fund for providing the funding for this amazing opportunity, thank you to my partner Elin for driving me everywhere, but most of all the volunteers who have truly enriched my experience.

The last 6 months have been the best of my life. It has been so rewarding to work in a creative role where I feel valued. I’m going to miss working at Amgueddfa Cymru. 

If you'd like to know more about the project as it was happening you can have a look at Robin's previous blog https://museum.wales/blog/2019-06-20/ARTISTS-PROJECT-Celebrating-10-Years-of-Volunteering/

Saturday 6th October 2019 8.30am

I took my breakfast cereal into the living room and looked out at the sky for any hint of what the weather might do. It had been raining and very windy for days, the remnants of hurricane ‘Lorenzo’ had been battering Wales all week. The sky was cloudy, a hint of drizzle against the glass and the weeping willow in our front garden was doing a samba.

Today I had more than a passing interest in the forecast as I had a boat trip planned for later that morning, in a very special boat.

The Ferryside Lifeboat to be precise, a 6.4 metre long RIB, the ‘Freemason’ which cost about £90,000, £50,000 of which was donated by the Freemasons, hence the name.

The crew had bought all new safety suits and gear and had offered the museum one of their old suits for our maritime collection. We jumped at the chance to acquire this very important piece of our seagoing history. One of the crew members is Mark Lucas who happens to be Curator of Wool at the National Woollen Museum in Drefach Velindre, Carmarthenshire and it was at his suggestion that the suit be donated to us. The lifeboat crew were running sea trials that morning and had asked me to go along to experience the conditions for myself and collect the gear.

We have three lifeboats in the National Collection, two of these have wooden hulls and in 2011 we collected a RIB (rigid hull inflatable boat) from Atlantic College in St Donats, where the original RIB design was created and patented by the college. So the fact that the suit was from a RIB crew made it even more special.

Eleven o’clock found us at the Lifeboat Station on the Towy Estuary in Ferryside. The Ferryside Lifeboat is an independent station, as are many around our coastline, and not funded by the RNLI. Just like the RNLI they are run by volunteers and rely on donations and grants.

The crew were gathering and getting changed into their ‘new’ suits and they had one for me to wear too. Now, getting into a ‘dry suit’ is no easy task, especially for a novice like me. To say it was a struggle is an understatement, and after ten minutes of performing like a contortionist and the ensemble heckling me that

‘people are drowning come on!’

It was then they decided that I needed a bigger suit. Hmm…

The weather by this time wasn’t too bad, a slight wind and light rain and the estuary looked fairly calm, this was indicated by the fact that the new ferry was sailing between Llansteffan and Ferryside.

‘That looks OK, not too rough’ I thought to myself, and it was OK in the estuary…

The giant Talus tractor pushed the lifeboat the ‘Freemason’ down the slipway and into the water. I was already installed by this point having been pushed unceremoniously over the rubber tube by the crew as I struggled to climb aboard in an extra 20 kilos of suit and gear. The rest of the crew climbed aboard (easily) and we set off.

As I thought the estuary was fairly quiet, but the coxswain pointed out to sea where I could see large white breakers rolling in over a sandbar which runs roughly from Laugharne to St Ishmaels.

‘That’s where we are going, it’s a bit lively out there, all good fun though’.

It was very lively. The crew put the boat through its paces doing figure eights and three-sixty manoeuvres, all at high speed whilst I hung on tightly and braced myself against the G-force of the turns. The boat will do 30 knots flat out, about 26 miles an hour, which doesn’t seem fast in a car on the road but in a boat is a different matter.

I kept thinking how brave these guys are to come out in all weathers and try and rescue people. The sea we were in wasn’t that rough and it was broad daylight. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like in a gale and in the dark.

Eventually we headed in and back to the comparatively flat calm of the river Towy. My trip was over and what an experience!

We headed for the Lifeboat Station and the crew presented me with a dry suit, life jacket, radio and GPS locator which are now part of the National Collection and on display at the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea.