It’s What It Is

Explorer Tom Newport Museum and Art Gallery lets the city tell its own story, from old stone and Roman finds to pictures made by people who saw familiar streets differently. The rooms sit in John Frost Square, a name that already hints at political history. Tom came for one picture of a castle and found a whole city refusing to fit in the frame. The museum has collected evidence of Newport's past since 1888. Archaeology, geology and social history show the ground and the people beneath today's streets, while the art gallery adds another way of recording place. The Chartist rising of 1839 has a strong presence here, fitting a city where demands for political rights became a dramatic public event. Later photographs and objects carry the account towards the twentieth century. These different collections deserve to be read together rather than treated as unrelated shelves. Move from an object that was used to a painting that was made to be seen. Ask what each can tell you about the people who lived nearby and what it leaves unsaid. Temporary exhibitions change the route, so the exact works on show may differ from your last visit. Tom says he can identify every Newport street from a fragment of Roman pottery; the curators have asked him to start with the map. Newport Council runs the public museum and gallery in the city centre. Check its current opening and exhibition details before travelling, and ask staff about access to any collection you came especially to see. The building is a useful starting point for a walk outside. Leave one gallery, then test its old view against the living city around you.