Museum Wales: No plans to shut Cardiff site, says minister

Responding to a Senedd question by Plaid Cymru’s Heledd Fychan, the culture secretary said that work had already started to look at “specific funding over the next few years”.

The senior minister told MSs that she had asked the museum to bring forward a business plan by the middle of May.

Ms Griffiths stressed that her budget was not very big, but said that this was “not just a matter for me, it’s a cross-government issue”.

“It’s an iconic building. These collections are not ours, we just look after them,” she said.

“It’s really important that we do safeguard them.”

The culture secretary also said the Welsh government was “committed” to not charging to enter museums.

She said museum management were looking at ways of “raising revenue” but she added that “charging to go in is not one of them”.

She added: “I want to reassure everyone the National Museum is not closing.”

Ms Fychan welcomed the response and hoped there was now a “willingness to find solutions”.

“None of us want to see National Museum Cardiff, the headquarters of our iconic National Museums have to close its doors because it is not safe for visitors, staff and our national collections”.