The Welsh National Temple of Peace and Health, known as the Temple of Peace and Health or commonly the Temple of Peace, is a non-religious civic building in

Cathays Park Cathays Park ( cy, Parc Cathays) or Cardiff Civic Centre is a civic centre area in the city centre of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, consisting of a number of early 20th century buildings and a central park area, Alexandra Gardens. It i ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, the capital city of

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It was designed by the architect Sir

Percy Thomas Sir Percy Edward Thomas OBE (13 September 1883 – 19 August 1969) was an Anglo-Welsh architect who worked in Wales for the majority of his life. He was twice RIBA president (1935–37 and 1943–46). Biography Percy Edward Thomas was born on ...

. Since its foundation the building has always served a dual function as headquarters for health and international affairs organisations.

Facilities

The centre's conference and seminar facilities include the 200 capacity marble Main Hall, the 50 capacity wood-panelled Council Chamber and the smaller 20 capacity meeting room. The venue has parking nearby and is within walking distance of the northern city centre. It can also be reached by rail transport from

Cathays railway station Cathays railway station is a station on the Merthyr and Rhondda lines in the Cathays district of Cardiff, Wales. It is north of . The station is next to Cardiff University Students' Union and across the road from many Cardiff University buil ...

History

The Temple of Peace and Health was the brainchild of

David Davies, 1st Baron Davies David Davies, 1st Baron Davies (11 May 1880 – 16 June 1944) was a Welsh Liberal politician and public benefactor who was MP for Montgomeryshire from 1906 to 1929. He was a grandson of the great Welsh industrialist David Davies. As a ph ...

, and was conceived to serve two purposes. The first was to provide a home for the

King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Association The King Edward VII Welsh National Memorial Association or WNMA was a Welsh voluntary association set up to combat tuberculosis. The lord mayor of Cardiff, alderman John Chappell, convened a meeting in Shrewsbury on 30 September 1910 to decide w ...

, a voluntary organisation dedicated to the prevention, treatment and eradication of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, which had been founded by Lord Davies in 1910. Davies was also the founding president of the Welsh National Council of the

League of Nations Union The League of Nations Union (LNU) was an organization formed in October 1918 in Great Britain to promote international justice, collective security and a permanent peace between nations based upon the ideals of the League of Nations. The League of N ...

, and in 1934 he pledged £58,000 () towards the erection of a building to house the two organisations. Lord Davies wished for the Temple of Peace and Health to be "a memorial to those gallant men from all nations who gave their lives in the war that was to end war" and so it was dedicated to the memory of those who laid down their lives in that war. In founding this public building, Lord Davies hoped to combine the ideals of peace and health. He wanted these two great humanitarian causes to be expressed in the architectural design of the building. The architect of the Temple of Peace and Health was Sir Percy Thomas, who was awarded the Bronze medal from the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

for its design. The foundation stone was laid by

Viscount Halifax A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

in 1937. The Temple of Peace and Health was opened on 23 November 1938. The ceremony was performed by one Mrs Minnie Annie Elizabeth James of 8 Cross Francis Street,

Dowlais Dowlais () is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlai ...

, who lost three of her sons in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The Temple of Peace and Health was bombed in July 1968 by

Welsh nationalists Welsh nationalism ( cy, Cenedlaetholdeb Cymreig) emphasises and celebrates the distinctiveness of Welsh culture and Wales as a nation or country. Welsh nationalism may also include calls for further autonomy or self determination which includes ...

in protest at the approaching investiture of

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to ...

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

. In 2018 the Temple of Peace was bought by

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

from the previous owners,

Public Health Wales Public Health Wales (PHW; ) is an NHS Trust which was established on 1 October 2009 as part of a major restructuring of the health service in Wales. It aims to protect and improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities in Wales. M ...

, though the

Welsh Centre for International Affairs The Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA) is a Welsh international affairs and strategy think tank, established in 1973 to promote the exchange of ideas on international issues, build international partnerships connecting Welsh people and ...

remain as leaseholders of part of the building.

Building

The building is in the form of the letter T, with two wings, and is built of Portland stone. The roofs of the wings are dark red Italian pattern tiles. The wings contain offices and committee rooms, on three levels.

Marble Hall

The central portion of the building, being deliberately higher than the wings, houses the spacious Temple Hall. Situated on the ground floor and facing the main entrance, it is lined with dove-grey marble to symbolise the emblem of Peace. It serves as a meeting place of numerous cultural and social organisations, with lectures and conferences on international issues held here (featuring speakers from all over the world); it is also a venue for campaigning groups and social events.

The Crypt and the Welsh National Book of Remembrance

Situated immediately below the Temple Hall, the Crypt houses the first Book of Remembrance. 1,100 pages long, it bears the names of 35,000 men and women of Welsh birth and parentage, and of the men who served in Welsh regiments who died in the First World War. As most died on Belgian or French soil, the bronze used on the glass casing of the Book of Remembrance is French, and the marble pedestal on which it rests is from Belgium. Concealed lighting illuminates the book from the roof of the Crypt.

Council Chamber

This is used as a meeting place, and is also a library, housing many books with international themes. Wood panelled, it is to be found on the first floor of the building. It contains part of Lord Davies' own book collection.

Use as a filming location

Much of the 2005 ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'' episode " The End of the World" was filmed in the Temple Hall and other parts of the building. The location was used to represent a

space station A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station i ...

five billion years in the future. Temple Hall was also used in the 2007 episode "

Gridlock Gridlock is a form of traffic congestion where "continuous queues of vehicles block an entire network of intersecting streets, bringing traffic in all directions to a complete standstill". The term originates from a situation possible in a grid ...

" and the 2008 episode "

The Fires of Pompeii "The Fires of Pompeii" is the second episode of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. It was broadcast on BBC One on 12 April 2008. Set shortly before and during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD ...

". It was used again in the episodes "

Let's Kill Hitler "Let's Kill Hitler" is the eighth episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', and was first broadcast on BBC One, Space and BBC America on 27 August 2011. It was written by Steven Moffat and direct ...

", " Cold Blood" and "

Nightmare in Silver "Nightmare in Silver" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the seventh series of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' and was first broadcast on BBC One on 11 May 2013. It was written by Neil Gaiman and directed by ...

." The Temple of Peace has also been used as a filming location for other television shows, including '' Sherlock'' with the 2010 episode "

The Blind Banker "The Blind Banker" is the second episode of the television series '' Sherlock,'' first broadcast on BBC One and BBC HD on 1 August 2010. It was written by Stephen Thompson and directed by Euros Lyn. ''Sherlock'' is a loose adaptation of Arthur ...

" and ''

His Dark Materials ''His Dark Materials'' is a trilogy of fantasy novels by Philip Pullman consisting of '' Northern Lights'' (1995; published as ''The Golden Compass'' in North America), ''The Subtle Knife'' (1997), and ''The Amber Spyglass'' (2000). It follows ...

''.

References

External links

Temple of Peace website
* {{Authority control Landmarks in Cardiff Grade II listed buildings in Cardiff Percy Thomas buildings Art Deco architecture in Wales Cathays Park Terrorist incidents in Cardiff Stripped Classical architecture