Cardiff (Caerdydd)
Cardiff: Capital city of Wales. City of language. City of castles. City of world sport. City of arcades. City by the sea. City of icons.
Capital city of Wales
Cardiff has existed as a permanent settlement in some form since at least the 3rd century, but only became a city in 1905 following its rapid development to become the world's largest coal port. In 1955, Cardiff was proclaimed capital of Wales.
Today, Cardiff has a population of nearly 400,000 in the city itself and 1,000,000 in the wider urban area.
City of language
Cardiff is officially a bilingual city. Approximately 1 in 5 Cardiffians speak Welsh. Following a decline in Welsh speakers over the 20th century, the number is on the rise again following Welsh Government efforts to increase the number of speakers. More and more schools teaching through the medium of Welsh are opening in Cardiff, and residents are finding more and more opportunities to speak Welsh in pubs, in shops and on the streets of the city. You'll find Welsh all over Cardiff: on road signs, in publications, in local media and in the city's district names. The Cardiff Translation Unconference will be held in the Canton area, or Treganna in Welsh from tref meaning town and canna after St. Canna, a 6th-century nun who lived in the area.
But Cardiff is also a multilingual city, influenced by its history as a global port city and its status today as an international centre of culture and education. Traditional community languages spoken in the city include Arabic, Chinese, Somali, Bengali, Polish, Urdu and Italian.
Capital city of Wales
Cardiff has existed as a permanent settlement in some form since at least the 3rd century, but only became a city in 1905 following its rapid development to become the world's largest coal port. In 1955, Cardiff was proclaimed capital of Wales.
Today, Cardiff has a population of nearly 400,000 in the city itself and 1,000,000 in the wider urban area.
City of language
Cardiff is officially a bilingual city. Approximately 1 in 5 Cardiffians speak Welsh. Following a decline in Welsh speakers over the 20th century, the number is on the rise again following Welsh Government efforts to increase the number of speakers. More and more schools teaching through the medium of Welsh are opening in Cardiff, and residents are finding more and more opportunities to speak Welsh in pubs, in shops and on the streets of the city. You'll find Welsh all over Cardiff: on road signs, in publications, in local media and in the city's district names. The Cardiff Translation Unconference will be held in the Canton area, or Treganna in Welsh from tref meaning town and canna after St. Canna, a 6th-century nun who lived in the area.
But Cardiff is also a multilingual city, influenced by its history as a global port city and its status today as an international centre of culture and education. Traditional community languages spoken in the city include Arabic, Chinese, Somali, Bengali, Polish, Urdu and Italian.
City of castles
The Welsh name for Cardiff is Caerdydd, derived from the word caer, meaning fort, and dydd, which is believed to be a corruption of Taff, the river that flows through the city from north to south. Cardiff Castle stands on the river, originally built as a 3rd-century Roman fort and expanded in the late 11th century by Norman invaders. In more recent history, the castle passed into the hands of the Bute family, who turned it into a Victorian Gothic revival mansion.
In the north of the city stands Castell Coch, a 19th-century Gothic revival castle. The site was originally built on by the Normans after 1081 to protect the newly conquered town of Cardiff and control the route along the Taff. In 1760, the castle ruins were acquired by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, who employed the architect William Burges to reconstruct the castle as a country residence for occasional occupation in the summer, using the medieval remains as a basis for the design.
City of world sport
Cardiff has won the title of European City of Sport twice, in 2009 and in 2014. And for good reason.
The Principality Stadium stands proudly on the River Taff in central Cardiff. Built in 1999 to host the Rugby World Cup, it is the second-largest stadium in the world with a fully retractable roof. The stadium is home to the Wales national rugby team and has hosted events including FA Cup finals, part of the 2012 Olympics, the Speedway Grand Prix and concerts by Madonna, Bon Jovi, U2 and Oasis.
The Cardiff City Stadium opened in West Cardiff in 2009, and hosts Wales international football matches and concerts by the likes of Stereophonics, Rod Stewart and Westlife, in addition to Cardiff City football club matches.
The SWALEC Stadium at Sophia Gardens is home to Glamorgan County Cricket Club and has hosted the Ashes and Twenty20. cricket games.
City of arcades
Cardiff has the highest concentration of Victorian, Edwardian and modern-day indoor shopping arcades in Britain. The first to be built was Royal Arcade in 1858. The total length of Cardiff's city centre arcades is 797 m.
City by the sea
Cardiff stands on the edge of the Bristol Channel, at the mouth of three rivers - the Taff, Ely and Rhymney - with the first two flowing into Cardiff Bay - the former docklands now regenerated into a sophisticated cultural, dining and shopping area and marina. Cardiff Bay is home to the Senedd (the Welsh Parliament building), the Wales Millennium Centre (a performing arts centre), BBC Roath Lock (drama production studios), the Norwegian Church and Roald Dahl Plass (a vast oval square that hosts outdoor events). Heading south-west along the coastline are Penarth and its Victorian pier, the beach at Barry Island and rugged cliffs at Llantwit Major.
City of icons
Author Roald Dahl, singer Shirley Bassey, actor and composer Ivor Novello, and footballers Gareth Bale and Ryan Giggs all hail from the city. Some more extraterrestrial residents that you might find around the city are the Daleks. After all, Cardiff has been home to the production of Doctor Who since 2005.