Contemporary art in an elegant setting — an excellent way to spend an hour or two when the weather turns or you want a more cultural day. Often paired with coffee and a slow town stroll.
Mostyn is Wales foremost contemporary art gallery, and one of the most significant outside London -- a fact that tends to surprise people who do not expect to find it tucked behind a Grade II listed Edwardian terracotta facade on a shopping street in a North Wales seaside town. Admission is free, and the programme is genuinely world-class.
The building was commissioned in 1901 by Lady Augusta Mostyn, a philanthropist and photographer who wanted to create a gallery and arts space for the people of Llandudno. In its earliest years it housed the Gwynedd Ladies Art Society -- women were excluded from the male-dominated local art societies of the time -- making it arguably the first gallery in the world to show exclusively the work of women artists. After Lady Augusta died in 1912 the building had a varied life: a drill hall during the First World War, shelter for Belgian refugees, a grocer, a furniture shop, and during the Second World War a social space for American soldiers stationed in the area.
It reopened as a gallery in 1979, was substantially refurbished in 2010 at a cost of five million pounds, and rebranded simply as Mostyn. The renovation combined the original Edwardian galleries with striking new contemporary spaces, topped with a landmark gold spire visible from Mostyn Street. The result is six gallery spaces that now host international contemporary art, craft, talks, workshops and an acclaimed gallery shop supporting over 400 artists.
Mostyn is part of the Plus Tate network and is the Welsh partner for the National Gallery London bicentenary commission. It is around a ten minute walk from The Rosedene, and well worth building into any visit to the town.
- ✦ Highly rated by our guests
- ✦ Easy to reach from The Rosedene
- ✦ Suitable for all guests
