Carmarthenshire County Museum is a museum

Museum

A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...

 in the old county town

County town

A county town is a county's administrative centre in the United Kingdom or Ireland. County towns are usually the location of administrative or judicial functions, or established over time as the de facto main town of a county. The concept of a county town eventually became detached from its...

 of Carmarthen

Carmarthen

Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....

, Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire

Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...

 in Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

.

Location

Carmarthenshire County Museum is located at Abergwili

Abergwili

Abergwili is a village in Carmarthenshire, West Wales, lying near to the junction of River Towy and River Gwili.- Bishop's Palace :It is known for its Bishop's Palace, home to the Bishop of St David's since 1542, when Bishop William Barlow transferred his palace from St David's to Abergwili,...

, Carmarthen, SA31 2JG. It is managed by Carmarthenshire County Council

Carmarthenshire County Council

Carmarthenshire County Council is the local authority for the county of Carmarthenshire, Wales, providing a range of services under the control of elected county councillors that include education, planning, transport, social services and public safety...

.

History

The museum is housed a building that was previously the palace of the Bishop of St Davids between 1542 and 1974. It was within this building that the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

 was first translated into the Welsh language

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 in 1567.

Exhibition & Collection

The museum primarily aims to reflect the rich history and archaeology of the county and houses a diverse collection of artifacts

Artifact (archaeology)

An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...

 from prehistory

Prehistory

Prehistory is the span of time before recorded history. Prehistory can refer to the period of human existence before the availability of those written records with which recorded history begins. More broadly, it refers to all the time preceding human existence and the invention of writing...

, Egyptology

Egyptology

Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...

, early pottery sherds excavated locally and an art gallery with paintings and portraits. In addition there is a notable collection of Welsh furniture and costume, a Victorian era

Victorian era

The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

 village schoolroom, articles associated with the county's farming and agricultural heritage and an exhibition on World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

's home front.

External links

• Friends of Carmarthenshire County Council website on the County Museum
• Carmarthenshire County Council website on the County Museum
• Old amateur photographs of Carmarthen and held on Gathering the Jewels the website of Welsh cultural history
• 318 pages of artifacts associated with Carmarthenshire on Gathering the Jewels