For monthly guided Temple Tours and Archive Workshops, please book via Eventbrite at https://templetours.eventbrite.co.uk or visit our Wales Temple of Peace homepage. This page is for self-guided visits.
Welcome to Wales’ Temple of Peace and Health, the nation’s memorial to the fallen of World War 1. Founder David Davies envisioned a building ‘for the people’, that would inspire movements of Welsh men and women to ‘rid the world of the twin scourges of disease and war’ for future generations. Architecturally steeped in symbolism, since its opening in 1938 the Temple of Peace has been at the heart of Welsh efforts to build a better world. Explore this iconic space, and discover stories from Wales’ rich ‘Peace Heritage’ through following this self-guided tour, which takes about 25-30 minutes for most visitors. Scroll down to start.
We start our tour in the Entrance Hall ‘Vestibule’, veneered in dove grey and honeyed Italian marble, with a ceiling picked out with symbols of the 4 UK nations, and a stylised Poppy of Remembrance. The display panels offer an introduction to the Temple’s architecture (‘Peace Building‘), people (‘Peace Makers‘) […]
Directions: From reception, step outside through the great bronze entrance doors. The foundation stone is to your left as you exit (or to the RH when facing the entrance). View the whole portico from the pavement on King Edward VII Avenue. To the RH side of the great bronze entrance […]
Directions: From the Temple’s Reception, to either side of the entrance to the Hall of Nations, follow the stone staircases down into the Crypt – beneath the Temple itself and heart of the building’s foundations. In the very foundations of the Temple is the very reason for its existence: the […]
“Reposed upon a pedestal of black Belgian Marble and French Bronze” – materials of Flanders Fields, resting place of a lost generation of Wales’ sons and daughters – sits the WW1 Book of Remembrance: the rollcall of the fallen that accompanies Wales’ National War Memorial in Alexandra Gardens, opposite the […]
Directions: Returning to the Temple’s Reception, the Hall of Nations is directly through the steel doors at the top of the steps. Known over time as the ‘Hall of Nations’, ‘Hall of Justice’ and ‘Marble Hall’, the Temple presents ‘a magnificent edifice’ with walls faced in Trani Mirabelle marble in Dove […]
Directions: From the Temple’s Reception, at the top of the steps to Right Hand side you’ll see the word ‘Peace’ above the doorway – follow through this archway (through 2 doorways), to the bottom of the stairwell. The north and south wings of the Temple were always devised as offices […]
Directions: After entering the ‘Peace Wing’, turn left up the stairwell, where the exhibition images are displayed from bottom to top of the stairs. As you ascend the north stairwell, take a few moments to explore the incredibly moving photo exhibition by Lee Karen Stow, ‘Women War and Peace’. Put […]
Directions: From the ‘Peace Wing’ Stairwell, turn right at the top of the stairs. The Timeline extends the full length of the upstairs corridor. The whole of the first floor corridor leading to the Council Chamber is the canvas for an incredible ‘Timeline of Peacemakers’, assembled as the culmination of […]
Directions: The central first floor corridors, from the top of both stairwells, lead to the Council Chamber door (the ‘halfway’ point of the Peacemakers Timeline display) Above the Temple’s Entrance Hall and facing out across Cathays Park and Alexandra Gardens, the Council Chamber of 44 feet by 22 feet is […]
Directions: The central first floor corridors, from the top of both stairwells, lead to the Council Chamber door (the ‘halfway’ point of the Peacemakers Timeline display). The Women’s Peace Petition is to the left hand side of the room, in the centre of the cases. The Welsh Women’s Peace Petition […]
