The tiled corridor
The library's original 1882 entrance, tiled floor to ceiling with the seasons, night and morning, now a gallery inside the museum and the finest thing in the building.
The best thing in the Museum of Cardiff is not an exhibit but a room: the Victorian tiled corridor, a passage lined floor to ceiling with glazed pictorial tiles of the four seasons, night and morning, built as the original entrance when the building opened in 1882 as the town's free public library. Sealed off in 1999 when a glass-box entrance replaced it, it now survives as a ground-floor gallery inside the museum (one small step, no ramp). The Old Library on The Hayes is Grade II* listed and sits in the heart of the pedestrianised centre, a few minutes on foot from the castle, the St David's shopping centre and the covered Cardiff Market. The museum itself is small and free. It opened in 2011 as the Cardiff Story and took its current name in 2019, and its premise is simple: let the city's own people tell its history. Around 3,000 objects and photographs donated by residents trace how a modest town became the largest coal-exporting port on earth, what life was like in the multiracial dockside district of Tiger Bay, and what the war and then the collapse of heavy industry did to the place. The displays are interactive and pitched at children first: drawers to open, old clothes to try on, screens to prod. It suits families wanting a quiet hour between the shops, and pushchairs manage easily thanks to a lift to the basement galleries and an accessible toilet with baby-changing. Be clear about what it is, though. Nobody flies to Wales for this. It is a filler for the forty-five minutes between the castle and the market, or a refuge from Cardiff's relentless rain, not something to plan a day around. If you want the city's big museum, that is the National Museum Cardiff up at Cathays Park, with its art collection and dinosaur gallery. One important caveat: as of September 2026 the museum is shut because of a water leak in the building, and no reopening date has been announced. Its normal hours are Monday to Saturday, 10:00 to 16:00, closed Sunday, but do not rely on them without checking the official site first. Even closed, the Old Library facade and The Hayes are worth a pause on the way to the market.
The library's original 1882 entrance, tiled floor to ceiling with the seasons, night and morning, now a gallery inside the museum and the finest thing in the building.
How a small port became the world's biggest coal exporter, and what life was like in the multiracial dockside district.
Drawers to open, old clothes to try on and screens to prod; a quiet family hour between the shops.
The Old Library, The Hayes, Cardiff CF10 1BH
Not a dedicated visit, no. The National Museum Cardiff is far larger and richer, with paintings and dinosaurs, and it is free too. Treat the Museum of Cardiff as a forty-five-minute stop if you are already on The Hayes or waiting out the rain, and check first that it has reopened after the 2026 closure.