Historic Cardiff pub to be rebuilt at museum 'as it was in 1915'
The Vulcan Hotel - once in the heart of the Irish community in Cardiff - is being built at St Fagans National Museum of History.
Tuesday 21 January 2020 16:16, UK
A Victorian pub is being rebuilt brick by brick at a museum to preserve it for future generations.
The Vulcan Hotel was originally built on Adam Street in Cardiff in 1853 to serve the mainly Irish community, in an area once known as Newtown.
The pub closed its doors in 2012 and it has been dismantled by the historic building team from the National Museum of Wales.
The team painstakingly took it down brick by brick, and are putting it back together at St Fagans National Museum of History in exactly the same way.
The rebuild is expected to take three years.
The museum's curators are now keen to hear from those who have connections to the pub and can donate objects, photographs or tell their stories.
Bethan Lewis, head of St Fagans museum, said: "It's fantastic to see the building work starting on the Vulcan. The pub will be a welcome and unique addition to the Museum's collection of historic buildings.
"This is an important part of Cardiff's heritage and gives us the opportunity to tell some of the area's rich history."
Jennifer Protheroe-Jones, principal curator from the National Museum of Wales, said: "When it is open, The Vulcan will be displayed as it was in 1915, an important year for the pub.
"At this time, it had just undergone a major refurbishment that saw its distinctive green and brown tiles added to the frontage, as well as a redesign of its interior."
The pub saw many important changes in Cardiff, including the industrial revolution, and will be rebuilt to reflect how it looked in 1915.
In that year, the pub had undergone refurbishment and distinctive green tiles were added to the front.