The Museum of the Year Award seeks out museums and galleries across the UK that have shown exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement in the preceding year, with past winners including Tate St Ives, The Hepworth Wakefield and V&A London.

St Fagans lives, breathes and embodies the culture and identity of Wales. Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund director

This year’s shortlist of five featured a design museum in Scotland, a contemporary art centre and an ethnographic and archaeological museum, both from England, and a floating museum devoted to naval history in Northern Ireland but it was St Fagans, a national history museum in Wales, that took the title.

Stephen Deuchar, Art Fund director and chair of the judges for Art Fund Museum of the Year 2019 said: "St Fagans lives, breathes and embodies the culture and identity of Wales. A monument to modern museum democracy, it has been transformed through a major development project involving the direct participation of hundreds of thousands of visitors and volunteers. This magical place was made by the people of Wales for people everywhere, and stands as one of the most welcoming and engaging museums anywhere in the UK."

All images © Marc Atkins