MOMA Machynlleth

About the museum

MOMA Machynlleth is based in the Tabernacl, a former Wesleyan chapel in the centre of Machynlleth. The chapel was bought in 1984 and reopened as an arts centre in October 1986, run by the Tabernacle Trust, a charity set up to promote arts education, the Welsh language and Welsh culture and to preserve buildings and objects of artistic or historical interest. An annual festival began in 1987.

In the early 1990s the trust held its first public exhibition and began a permanent collection built around a core from a private family collection. Neighbouring buildings were added over the following years and converted into galleries, studios and music rooms, among them a former grocer’s shop, a link building opened in 1994, and the old tannery behind the chapel, which became a gallery and sculpture space in 2014.

Today the centre has seven galleries, a concert hall in the chapel and a collection of more than 400 works, mostly by artists who live and work in Wales in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The galleries show a rolling programme of exhibitions, and visitors can also look around the chapel when no event is on. There is a café, a shop selling original Welsh art and a programme of concerts, talks, classes and cinema.

Highlights

• Seven galleries with a changing exhibition programme
• Tabernacl Collection of more than 400 works, mainly by artists in Wales
• Concert hall in a converted chapel that visitors can look around
• Café and shop with original Welsh art
• Annual Machynlleth Festival

Permanent exhibitions

• Tabernacl Collection – A collection of more than 400 works, mainly by artists living and working in Wales, shown in changing displays.
• The Tabernacl – The former chapel, now a concert hall, which visitors can look around when no event is on.

Founded

1986

Operated by

Tabernacle Trust

Admission & discounts

Admission is free.

Entry to all exhibitions and lunchtime talks is free. Concerts and other events may charge a fee.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom
• Accessible parking
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials: no information
• Audio description: no information

There is level access from the street into one gallery (Ystafell y Gwladwyr), the other galleries, café and shop are reached from the courtyard, and lifts serve all floors, including the concert hall. The hall has four wheelchair spaces that can be booked, and one wheelchair can be borrowed. The accessible toilet is on the lower floor and has baby-changing facilities. The hall has a hearing loop, but the galleries do not. Guide and hearing dogs are welcome, and water can be provided. Blue badge parking behind the centre must be booked in advance. Labels are in Welsh and English, and large-print versions are available on request.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Baby changing facilities

Children can use colouring activities in the galleries and ask on arrival for a guide to hidden mosaics, wall hangings, paintings and sculptures from the collection. Family workshops are listed in the events programme. Lifts and baby-changing facilities are available.

Getting there & parking

The centre is in the middle of Machynlleth on Heol Penrallt (A487), near the clock tower, on the road towards Aberdyfi.

Amenities & dining

• Café
• Museum shop

The coffee shop serves hot drinks and Welsh cakes and is currently open on Wednesdays from 10am to 2pm. The shop sells books, cards, prints and artworks linked to the exhibitions, including original works for sale.

Events & venue rental

• Spaces for rent

Up to 325 guests.

Six spaces can be hired: the Tabernacl auditorium (325 seats), the foyer gallery (40 to 50), the sculpture space and tannery gallery (40 to 100), the Green Room (20), a music room (5) and an art studio (15). Catering is available from the on-site coffee shop, and filming is possible.

Plan your visit